Fire Escape
by SunflowerWielder
Summary: Noctis never knew wanting to run from a party would lead him to a fire escape. He had even less of an idea as to where that would take him... and his kingdom. Yes, the summary sucks! Rated T for language and violence. LxN
1. Chapter 1

**Well, here it is! My first Fabula Nova Crystallis story! Woot woot, and all that classical jazz! I'm not sure of the title for this one... if you've got any better ideas, please let me know!**

**Anyway, please read it! I know it's incredibly weird, and I have no idea where the hell it came from. Here we go...**

**STUPIDLINEBUTTONWON'TWORKONTHISPARTOFTHESTORY**

Noctis hated his tie. It felt like it was choking him. Damn it, all he wanted to do was to take it off.

"Such a noble gesture. It is good to know we can still trust the youth of today!" The man laughed heartily at his own joke.

Come to think of it, he'd rather like to punch this blithering idiot in front of him.

"Mm." Noctis nodded his head once in the hope that would be a sufficient reply.

"This trouble with the crystals..." The man tutted and shook his head. "Tragic."

"Very tragic." The young man looked around, in the hope that someone would turn up and offer him a life line out of this conversation. The man said nothing, and for one blissful second, it looked like Noctis could escape.

"But then again," The man continued suddenly in his wheezy voice, sinking Noctis' spirit. "I suppose it is human nature to do whatever it takes to survive."

"I guess so." Noctis cleared his throat slightly. "If you excuse me, I need to talk to my bodyguard."

"Oh," The man looked put out. "Of course. I shall see you later, your highness." Noctis walked away quickly, breathing out slowly. He hated these big functions. They may be necessary, but everyone took a particular interest in him. Being heir to the throne was not easy.

The fire escape door in the far corner of the hall offered him some solace. He quietly made his way over to the door, slipping and sliding between groups of politicians and businessmen.

He smiled slightly to himself as he reached the door. He rested his hand on the cold metal bar and pushed down gently on it, praying that it wouldn't squeak or let out some other noise that would alert others to his location.

Luckily, the maintenance at the hall was good, so the door opened without the slightest noise. Noctis slid around the door, and ducked out onto the metal fire escape, closing the door behind him.

The air was bitterly cold and damp from the rain that had fallen in the afternoon. A sharp contrast to the dry, dusty air in the hall. The fire escape was still wet.

Noctis pulled off his tie. There was no-one to impress out here.

That was what he thought, until he heard a creak from above him. Looking up, he saw through the metal mesh a pair of feet. Gritting his teeth, he walked over to the steps and clambered up them.

As he reached the top, he saw a woman giving him a curious look. She had sharp blue eyes and hair that could only be described as reddish pink.

"Who are you?" He asked, trying to look dignified. The woman scanned him with her eyes.

"More importantly, who are you?" Her voice had an edge to it, a tone of mistrust and bitterness.

"I am Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum." He said calmly. "And you are?"

"People call me Lightning." She replied. Noctis noticed her fingering what appeared to be a weapon, tucked away in a holster.

"Never seen you at one of these functions before." He said, keeping an eye on her hand, ready to retaliate at the first sign of attack.

"That is because I have never been to one." Lightning kept an eye on him. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two for a while, broken only by classical music drifting in from the building.

"I do have weapons." He said, figuring that was what she was looking for. She raised a single eyebrow. "But I'm not going to use them unless you give me a reason." She turned her head and looked out over the city.

"Fair enough." She said after a moment, leaning against the wall. Noctis nodded, noticing that she had removed her hand from her weapon.

"So why are you here?" He asked, wondering if this was a good way to start conversation.

"Does it matter?"

Obviously not.

She wasn't like the other women at this function, he realised. What she wore was different – The women often wore expensive dresses and skirts, similar to how the men wore flashy suits. What she was wearing were clearly everyday clothes. White coat, short skirt – or were they shorts?

Her attitude was different. Most women would talk non-stop to him, question him, or worse, pity him. She however, seemed to have conversation, polite or not, far down on her list of priorities.

"You dropped your tie." She stated, her words cutting into the air. Noctis glanced down to see the piece of navy material lying on the floor, wet through.

"Who cares? I hate the blasted thing." Noctis grumbled, although he picked up the tie.

"Hm." Lightning's lips curled up slightly. "You don't act like a prince." He could tell she wanted to end the conversation then and there. She wanted to have the last word. He, on the other hand, wanted to push it a little further.

"And you don't act like a lady." He shot back, feeling a small smirk on his face.

"So how is a lady supposed to act?" She asked. "Does what you say, when you say it?"

"Not exactly." Noctis couldn't stop the grin on his face growing. "Well, they're not supposed to be out on fire escapes in the middle of the night."

"And Princes are?"

"We have our reasons."

"Of course you do." She was definitely being patronizing, but in a sarcastic way. "When you have power, you can do whatever you want with it..." Her voice trailed off, the bitterness in it almost overwhelming. Noctis wondered what had happened to change the atmosphere from teasing to deadly serious.

"Yes, we can take over the fire escapes with ease whenever we want." Noctis said in a posh voice, puffing his chest out.

Lightning was silent for a second.

"Heh." She grinned slightly.

He smiled as he felt a swooping sensation in his stomach. He blinked. He had felt that before – it was unnerving, the way he felt when he was falling through the air.

Silence fell again, but it was more comfortable. There was no awkwardness or edge. Noctis glanced down at his watch.

"Ten to ten." He muttered, half aloud, half to himself. "Ugh... I have to give a speech at ten o'clock."

"Oh." Lightning nodded. "Good luck with that."

"Aren't you going to watch it?" Noctis asked. She blinked, and looked slightly startled.

"I... I don't think so." She stammered.

"Why?" Noctis stared at her. She bit her lip slightly.

"I'm not supposed to be here." She murmured.

"A gatecrasher? Tut tut." Noctis clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"I'm sorry." She shrugged.

"If you stand at the back quietly, no-one would notice you." He decided. She stared at him.

"Why do you want me to listen to your speech so badly?" Noctis shrugged and shuffled his feet, feeling awkward and shy. To be blunt, he didn't know why – If it sucked, she would tell him it sucked. It'd be nice to have someone who would be blunt with him, instead of tip-toeing around him. "Fine." She sighed. "I'll listen to your silly speech."

* * *

Noctis slid between another group of people, heading towards the back of the hall as fast as his feet would carry him. He had the feeling Lightning wouldn't wait long.

"Ah, Noctis!" The man from earlier, whose name Noctis couldn't be bothered to remember, ran over. "I said I would catch you later on!"

"Yes, you did." Noctis gritted his teeth.

"Moving speech. Inspiring." He nodded. "Your uncle must be proud."

"You'd have to ask him." Noctis felt a gust of cold air around his feet. Lightning had obviously grown bored and gone back out onto the fire exit. "If you'd-"

"You certainly have a way with words." The man smiled, sympathetically. "You must have gotten that from your mother."

"Yes, I've been told that before." Noctis shuffled his feet. This conversation was a carbon copy of the dozen or so conversations he had had since his speech. He just wanted to see Lightning again.

"It is such a shame such responsibility should fall on someone so young." The man sighed, as if it were of great sadness to him. Rubbish. "Of course, if there were someone to share the responsibility with..." He trailed off.

He, like everyone else, was fishing for news of a girlfriend, marriage, whatever.

"If only." Without bothering to make an excuse, Noctis walked away, and headed to the fire exit. He pushed down on the bar, slipped out, closed the door, and ran up the stairs again.

Lightning was leaning against the wall.

"Thought you might have left." He said, relieved that she hadn't.

"I was considering it." Her voice was clipped.

"So...?"

"Not bad." Lightning looked at him. "You hated it though."

"What?" Noctis was startled by this. Mainly because she was right. He was good at speeches, but he hated them with a passion.

"You need to work on your body language. You were stiff. Awkward. You felt uncomfortable, with all the attention on you, probably because you're shy. Which," She carried on, oblivious to the glare Noctis was sending her. "Is why you act arrogant. To hide it, because what good is a shy prince?"

"Shut up." Noctis scowled. Lightning looked at him.

"Give me a reason."

"I have weapons."

"So do I. And I'm sure I could beat you." She pushed herself up from against the wall, one of her hands slipping back.

Noctis grabbed her other hand by the wrist tightly. Lightning scowled and pulled backwards. Noctis stumbled forwards and bumped into her, ending up face to face.

Noctis, on an impulse, he kissed her.

Lightning stiffened, clearly not used to close contact. Noctis was fully expecting to be pushed away, or hit in the face.

What he didn't expect was for her to kiss him back.

Noctis didn't know how long it was before she pulled away, shaking her head.

"Sorry." She muttered, before turning to head down the stairs.

"I'll see you again." Noctis said, a statement, not a question. She smiled slightly, with a sad look in her eyes.

"Maybe." And with that she left. Noctis stared out at the city, feeling the swooping sensation in his stomach again. He stayed there for a while, before heading back into the world he hated.

"Hey Noct!" His friend Felix jogged over to him, with his usual grin on his face. "What's up? You look like you've been slammed over the head with a brick!"

"Noth-" He began to speak, before a scream and an explosion of bullets came from outside. He, along with everyone else in the room, ran towards the exits.

A man, one of the senior men in the council, was lying on the ground, covered in bullets and blood.

"An assassin!" A hysterical woman shrieked. "I saw her! A female assassin, she leapt from the sky and shot him down!"

"A female assassin?" One of the other council men asked gruffly. "Come, come... you've had quite a shock. Are you sure you weren't mistaken?"

"She was female, I know she was!" The woman bellowed. "She had pinky red hair, and-"

"Blue eyes." Noctis whispered.

* * *

Lightning was an assassin from Pulse. Pulse was a rival country to his own Kingdom, they believed that the crystals should be liberated.

She had been sent to kill council members and anyone else in a position of authority.

_That's why she agreed to listen to my speech – So she could eye out targets._

_But then why didn't she kill me?_

_I should have called the guards the second I knew she was armed – But I couldn't. I just couldn't. And now I have yet more innocent blood on my hands._

_Lightning..._

_What are you?_

* * *

_The Prince._

_I couldn't miss such an opportunity._

_And yet... You were too cold. Too empty. It made me weak, unsure. I questioned my orders._

_It was my mission. And now I am paying for my weakness._

_30 lashes on my back. They wouldn't stop bleeding – Vanille was the one who saved my life. If she hadn't found me abandoned in the forest, I would have bled to death._

_They have given me another chance._

_This is my final chance._

_This time I must not fail. I must not hesitate._

_We will meet again, for the last time. Ever._

_Noctis..._

_I am sorry._

* * *

**Weird, huh? I have no idea where the hell this came from... but I needed to put up a Final Fantasy XIII story, and this is the one I have that was nearest being finished. Should I carry it on? Or leave it here?**

**Yep, Felix is shot-gun guy! Felix - Happy, prosperous.**

**I know Anime used the same name in her story, but in my defense, I had chosen that name before I began reading her story. If there are any issues with me using the name, let me know and I'll change it.**

**Also, I'm trying to work out what FFXIII story I should put up - I've got a tonne that are half-way finished. Gimme a hand guys - which one should I focus on?**

**Alcohol and Party poppers (working title) - This is all Vanille's fault. I should never have let her throw this damn party. Or maybe it's Felix's fault - He's the one who brought in the bloody alcohol. (Genre: Humor/General. Lightning's POV, crossover with Versus. Warnings: A lot of language, alcohol)**

**What happened in the inn, STAYS in the inn - Lightning, Snow, Vanille and Sazh are spending the night at a -number 8- seedy inn. What could go wrong? Apart from Sazh being wacked out on anti-histimines, Vanille being waay too knowledgeable, Snow being drunk, and Lightning losing her patience and sanity? (Genre: Humor. Third person, pure FFXIII. Warnings: Language, innuendo, slight violence)**

**Noctis the Skirt Chaser (Working Title) - Noctis is in a very, very, very strange mood. At best, he's drunk. At worst... he's hormonal. (Genre: Humor. Third person, crossover with XIII. Warnings: Language, slight violence, Noctis trying to chat up Lightning.)**

**Painting Lightning's room is harder than you think - Vanille decides to cheer Lightning up by painting her room, with the help of an extremely reluctant Snow. What could possibly go wrong? "Explain. What happened. NOW." (Genre: Humor. Third person, pure XIII. Warnings: None I think!)**

**When Lightning Strikes - There are time when Snow thanks God she can't remember how screwed up her life was. And there are times he wished he had done more. (Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Friendship. Third person, pure XIII. Warnings: Will contain child abuse and self harming)**

**Stained - Lightning just wants to clean her weapon. But sometimes it can reflect more than the light. (Genre: Angst. Third person, songfic, pure XIII. Warnings: Will contain slight self harm)**

**Frozen - Lightning's so cold. It's freezing out here, and she's alone. It's dangerous - And they've finally gotten to her. (Genre: Hurt/Comfort. Third person, songfic, pure XIII. Warnings: Slight gore)**

**There are one or two others, but they aren't near being finished yet.**

**So, please let me know what you think! Please, please review!**

**Peace out, mes amies!**

**SunflowerWielder (*.*)**

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, against my better judgement i.e. the sane part of my brain (yes, it does exist), I decided to carry this story on.**

**I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

Lightning frowned at her image in the mirror. She pulled up the back of her top and winced inside as she gazed at the cuts, criss-crossing her back. The vivid reds and pinks stood out on her pale skin.

_Thank God Vanille took that White Magic course._

She pulled down her top, remembering Vanille's strict instructions not to touch them in case they got infected.

"_And that," She had lectured Lightning. "Is something no amount of white magic could fix if you got a bad enough infection. So don't freaking poke it, or I'll get Snow to sit on you."_

She shut her eyes for a second, and remembered Noctis staring at her.

_Out. Get out of my mind, you stupid arrogant prince._

"He's a target." Lightning snapped. "A target. Nothing else. Just a target."

_She remembered lying in wait for one of the counsellor's to appear, leaning over the edge of the fire escape. One of them did appear – She recognised him from the file she had mentally absorbed. She pushed the bullets into her gun. He had a woman with him, their arms wrapped around each other. She'd have to be careful not to hit her – She never harmed the innocent._

_Eventually, they untangled from each other, and she leapt._

_Six shots, and he fell. She landed and ran as the woman's screams echoed throughout the abandoned streets._

'' '' '' '' '' ''

"_You killed one of the counsellors." The leader muttered, tapping his finger on his chair. She didn't know his name – no-one did. It was the most closely guarded secret in Pulse. Some even speculated he didn't have a name. His face was covered too, the lighting of the room kept him in the shadows. But she could feel the heat of his gaze on her._

"_Yes." She dug her nails into the palm of her hand. She hated this place – But she didn't have anywhere else to go. She couldn't run, she was in too deep for that._

"_However," Another senior man stood up. He was the planner of the organization, Phobos. He had long, greasy blonde hair and serious grey eyes that glared at Lightning with something close to contempt. "The Prince was unharmed, correct?"_

_**Shit...**_

"_I couldn't find him." Lightning said calmly, coldly. There was a silence._

"_Such __lies__, Lightning." The leader whispered after a second. Before she could react, two soldiers grabbed her arms, disarmed her and pulled her backwards. "We do not tolerate lying. And we do not tolerate failure. Thirty lashes."_

Lightning scowled. Her back stung at the memory of the leather piercing her skin.

"He's just a target, just a target, just a TARGET!" She punched the mirror in front of her, shattering it. She breathed out sharply, and examined her hand. It was cut, but no glass seemed to have gotten in. Seven years bad luck, she noted bitterly. As if she needed anymore.

"Light?" She spun around to face her door. "Light, I know you're in there. I can hear you breathing, you're pissed off. Again."

"... Just a sec." She pulled the mirror of the wall and shoved it under her bed. "You can come in Snow."

The taller man shoved his head around the door.

"Vanille told me what happened. You okay?" He asked, genuinely caring.

"I'm fine. Just been told not to pick at them." She gestured to her back, and flopped down onto the bed. He sat next to her.

"You didn't lie, did you?" Snow wrinkled his nose. "I mean, you just couldn't find him, right?"

"Snow, why the hell would I lie about something like that?" Lightning muttered, discreetly managing to dodge the question.

"I guess... what happened to your hand?!" Snow yelled, grabbing it.

"Oh... I got a bit worked up."

"What did you punch?"

"... A mirror."

"Seven years bad luck and a sliced hand. Way to go." He looked at the cut closely as Lightning glared at him. "I don't think there's any glass, and it's not bleeding too badly."

"So it's fine."

"No, it's not bloody fine, you punched a mirror." Snow sighed and shook his head. "You have issues."

"Snow, if we didn't have issues, we wouldn't be here." She lay down and shut her eyes, signalling the end of the conversation. Snow stayed put for a moment, before shaking his head again and leaving.

* * *

The Kingdom of Tenebrae was in mourning. The assassination of one of its counsellors by another country was a terrible shock.

Noctis was in the back of a car, being sped towards the castle that was his home. An emergency meeting was going to be held there. He knew what would happen – They would negotiate a deal with Pulse. And then when that failed, they would launch a war.

_I wonder if she'll be in the war._

Noctis' blank face turned into a scowl. Why was he thinking about her? She _murdered_ one of the most important counsellors in the entire Kingdom. Why wasn't he furious?

He was. He was furious, obviously, otherwise his eyes wouldn't have turned crimson, like they did whenever he was annoyed, frustrated, fighting, anything that involved anger. It annoyed him even more, however, that it was hard to direct the anger at her. It just stayed inside him, ticking away.

He shook his head slightly, wiping the grimace from his face.

_Tell the council what you know. One woman for the sake of a war? It's a simple equation._

The car swept along the highway.

* * *

Noctis had listened to the same man drone on for the last half an hour. He had lost the thread of the conversation some time ago. It was along the lines of not negotiating with terrorists, the crystals, and peace. The same speech given every time so kind of disaster happened, even if it had nothing to do with terrorists, peace or the crystals.

"Would anyone like to interject?" His uncle, the current king asked in his usual, business like tone. Noctis felt his uncle's gaze land on him, as if expecting some kind of magnificent speech. The problem was, he didn't have one.

_Tell him what you know. That's the most useful thing at the moment – information._

His hand felt severed from his body. It refused to put itself up, even as he tried to force it. He tried the other hand, only to be met with similar resistance. His mouth point blank refused to open and speak.

_What the hell?_

Instantly his mind re-winded to the fire escape, to her, to her difference, anger, and bitterness. It then fast-forwarded to the kiss.

_She's an enemy. An enemy. Nothing else._

_Just another enemy._

* * *

Lighting opened her eyes and stared the ceiling. It was very clean, she noted with slight amusement. Probably the cleanest thing in her room – She was too busy to pay attention to tidiness.

Too busy with killing people.

Phoenix – That was the name of their organization. Rising from the ashes to reclaim the crystals.

She was a soldier. Fighting was what she did, it was her fate. She couldn't think of a time when she wouldn't have to fight.

In a way, she didn't want to. Fighting had been the one constant in her life. Take it away, and it would be like taking the foundations away from a house. She'd crumble.

_Stop it. You are stronger than this – just ignore it. It's a mood. It'll pass._

She pushed herself off the bed and walked to where she had left her weapon, resting against the wall. She picked it up confidently, and swung it slightly a few times.

Lightning breathed out slowly, and in her mind she saw the prince. She scowled.

"You're just a target."

* * *

"Enough." The King rested his chin on his hands. "We must work out how we settle these negotiations."

"With all due respect, sire." One of the counsellors, Arminius, spoke up. Noctis had never liked him – He had a bald head that glistened and a face like a racoon. "I believe that negotiations are not the way to go." Everyone turned to face him.

"Oh?" The King sounded almost amused. "And why would that be?"

"It was an unprovoked attack!" Arminius spluttered. "An unprovoked attack on a counsellor!"

"They may not consider it unprovoked." Noctis muttered, earning a glare from the older man, which he met coldly without flinching.

"Did we attack them? No! That is the meaning of unprovoked." Arminius scowled. "Enough is enough. I think I speak for the majority when I say we have no other option but war!"

"I disagree." Ireneus commented. A moderate middle aged man, Noctis had never really noticed him before. He blended into the background. "Diplomacy is the best way forwards in such situations. Charging into a dangerous country like Pulse, with guns blazing is hardly going to calm things down."

"We should not calm them down, we should get rid of them!" Arminius bellowed. Noctis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This was becoming ridiculous. King Timaeus nodded slowly.

"I see." He looked up from the table, which he had fixed his gaze on throughout the exchange. "Who agrees with Arminius?"

Noctis stared at the table, unsure if he wanted to know what the answer was.

"And who agrees with Ireneus?" Noctis desperately wished to raise his hand – but those in line for the throne had no vote in the council. In fact, Noctis was there for decoration more than anything else.

"I think there is a clear majority." Arminius' voice was smug beyond belief. Timaeus sighed deeply.

"How long will it be before the troops are in position?"

* * *

"LIGHTNING!!"

The woman woke up with a start, and turned to glare at Snow.

"What is it?"

"Time to go." He grinned at her look of confusion. "To Tenebrae? Kill the Prince, etcetera?"

"What, now?" She stared at the older man, who nodded. "They whipped me within an inch of my life yesterday, and today they want me to go kill someone for them?"

"Like you said. They have issues." Snow gestured to the door. "Come on. I'm going to help you out."

"I don't need help." She muttered darkly.

"Not my diagnosis." He left the room as quickly as he'd arrived. Lightning pushed herself off the bed and grabbed her gunblade.

_Just a target. Just another target._

She shoved the weapon into her holster and left her room.

_You haven't got a choice._

_This time, he's got to die._

_He's got to die._

* * *

"They really are the world's most stupid people, aren't they?" Felix waved his hands in the air. Lexus ducked slightly to avoid the youth's flailing arms. "'Hey, let's go blow some stuff up!' 'Yeah, okay!' IDIOTS!!" Felix kicked a stone angrily.

Noctis leant against the wall with a heavy sigh. He was used to hearing Felix's rants against the council.

"Felix, calm down a little bit." Placido pushed his glasses up. He smiled weakly. "I don't think complaining is going to make a lot of difference."

"So... I should go hit the council members?"

"Are you suicidal?" Lexus asked.

"No."

"Then don't."

"So what should we do?"

"Uh..." There was a long silence. "Noctis? Any ideas?"

"There's nothing we can do. Not yet anyway." Noctis shut his eyes slightly.

"So what?" Felix piped up. "We have to wait until everyone is getting blown up?"

"No, we have to wait until something changes." The Prince pushed himself up and turned to glance across the abandoned bridge they had met on. "Or someone."

"Someone changes?" Placido frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"I mean someone changes their mind."

"Oh, okay." Felix gave a sigh of relief. "I thought you were going to kill your uncle and take the throne, like in Hamlet." Lexus pulled him into a headlock as Noctis and Placido rolled their eyes in unison.

"The guy killed his father in Hamlet, genius!" Lexus laughed.

"He killed his brother actually." Placido explained.

"Get off me Lexus!"

"Uncle, father, brother, all the same thing."

"No it's not!"

"Yeah it is! They're all related." Noctis looked down at the ground and smirked as Lexus, Felix and Placido argued about why there was or wasn't a difference between brothers, uncles and fathers.

_Brap. Braaap. Brap. Braaaaap._

The group jumped slightly as Placido fumbled in his pockets for the phone.

"Your phone has a hideous ring tone."

"Shut up Felix." He muttered, pushing the phone against his ear. "Hello?" He listened for a moment. "Ye... N.... Oka...." He turned away from the phone. "Paranoid servant one is requesting on behalf of the King that the Prince returns to the castle."

"And why should I?" Noctis challenged. Placido turned back to the phone and listened.

"He needs to talk to you about something 'important'. I'd use that term loosely, if I were you." Placido stage-whispered. "He'll be there."

"No I won't."

"He will, because Felix, Lexus and I will drag him there kicking and screaming if necessary."

* * *

Lightning left the shining white building, and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Vanille?"

"Hi Light!" The younger woman smiled. She was sitting on Snow's motorcycle, holding her bow. Her smile changed to a smirk as she saw Lightning's confused expression. "You really think I'm going to let you and Snow go running into what is soon to be a war zone?"

"I hoped." Lightning replied dryly. Vanille snorted.

"And people say I'm the naive one."

"Vanille, get off my Shiva now." Snow yelled, walking over to the duo.

"Your Shiva?" Vanille snickered. "I think they'd take offense to that." She got off the motorcycle though.

"Are you coming as well?" He asked, reaching the motorcycle. Vanille nodded.

"And don't," She said as Snow opened his mouth. "You dare try to leave me out of this. Someone needs to make sure you and Lightning don't get arrested. Again."

"That was ONE time Vanille!"

"Can we just go already?" Lightning snapped. "I've gotten whipped once, I don't want to fucking get whipped again!" Vanille and Snow raised their eyebrows in unison.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked bluntly.

"Nothing's wrong, I just want to get this over with!" She hissed.

"Liar." Snow grumbled, getting onto Shiva, followed by Vanille. Lightning just rolled her eyes as she climbed onto the back and grabbed the sides of the motorcycle.

_I don't want to start second guessing._

_I just want this over with. Before I start changing my mind._

* * *

Noctis lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had to give yet another speech. Something comforting and encouraging to the people about the oncoming war.

Oh yeah, and he had until tomorrow night to write it.

_My people, I am sorry that the powers that be are bored and have decided to throw us into a war for giggles._

He had a feeling his uncle would be annoyed if he gave that sort of speech.

Noctis turned onto his side and looked at the faded photograph of his father and mother.

He could remember them. They died when he was sixteen... his father in an assassination attempt, and his mother wasted away from cancer.

An assassination attempt...

Everyone kept commenting on how he looked so much like his father. Could he die the same way as his father?

"Shut up!" He told himself angrily. His mind refused however, and continued to throw up ideas and memories from the past.

He pushed himself off the bed and walked towards the window, feeling in his pockets. His room was dark, like the rest of the castle. It was empty, plain, which was fine - he spent little time in it.

He pushed the old window open with some difficulty. The air was once again bitterly cold, and the rush of it coming into the warm room felt like a slap.

He leant out of the window, not far enough to fall out, but enough so the majority of his torso was leaning out. He found what he was looking for in his pockets and pulled them out.

A lighter and a cigarette.

He very rarely smoked. He didn't want to turn out like the counsellors, who coughed every time they moved, or his mother, who smoked like a chimney, up until she went.

The smell of the smoke reminded him vaguely of his childhood, when things like assassins and heirs were unheard of. He had lived in a world where the only divisions were boys and girls, adults and kids. Different countries, races, species... it had never mattered before he was thrown in line for the throne.

He frowned as he attempted to get a light. It had been over a year since he had last smoked – Lexus had caught him, and slapped it out of his hand. Since then, he hadn't even considered it. But now, in times of upmost stress, he really wanted one.

_Damned cravings._

He smirked slightly as he finally got a light. He lit the cigarette and took a drag.

After his parents had died, his uncle took him in. It was his mother who had been the royal blood in him. Even though she was older than his uncle, who was in his thirties now, she had been ousted for the throne because she was female.

Still she had given speeches and was an important role in the Kingdom – Speaking of speeches...

Noctis breathed out in a cloud of smoke and thought to himself. The silence was pounding his eardrums.

_My people... People of Tenebrae... People... People who are about to lose people they care about. Friends, fathers, children, brothers._

He sighed and stared out at the dark city. The sound of an engine finally broke the silence.

* * *

"It's freezing." Vanille shivered as the trio disembarked from the motorcycle. They were in a dark street in Tenebrae, with several shadowy buildings surrounding them. She hugged herself to keep warm.

Lightning felt slightly sorry for her – it was cold, and she and Snow were wearing suitable clothing, not tribal wear.

"Oh stop moaning." Snow grinned as he looked around. "This is the right street, isn't it?"

"I don't know, they all look the same to me." Lightning sighed. "What an idiotically designed city." At this point, Snow pulled out a map.

"Okay, so we are... here." He pointed at the map with one finger. "So... yes, this is the right street."

"'Stop moaning'" Vanille grumbled. "Easy for you to say, you've got a coat."

"Shush!" Lightning hissed, examining the map. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Yes."

"Then where the hell is he?"

"Patience is a virtue." The group turned around to see an older man standing behind them.

"Sazh!" Vanille smiled and ran to give the man a hug. He chuckled and hugged her back.

"That's my name." He smiled at Snow and Lightning, who were hanging back slightly. They both knew the man well, but Snow was focused on stopping the motorcycle from falling over, and Lightning wasn't the hugging type.

"Do you know where we're staying?" Lightning asked, stepping slightly back into a fighting stance. It was almost a natural way of standing for her. Sazh nodded.

"There's an abandoned building not too far from here. Everyone stays out of it because it's condemned. It's not due to come down for weeks though, more than enough time for you..." His voice trailed off slightly. "To get it over with." His voice hit a slight catch, making Lightning roll her eyes to heaven.

_Do not start crying you idiot._

"Good." Snow grinned. "Let's go then."

* * *

"Noctis?" The man stiffened and turned to face Felix. "Hey!" He slapped the cigarette out of Noctis' hand. "You're smoking?!"

"I hadn't noticed."

"Don't be an idiot!" Felix yelled. "Smoking?! Have you not seen the adverts where the little girl walks through her grandpa? It's _chilling_!"

"Good thing I'm not a grandpa then." Noctis replied, stamping on the cigarette to put it out before it set the carpet on fire.

"Stop taking the piss already." Felix crossed his arms. "Noct, we're just looking out for you. Do you really want tar in your lungs?"

"No." The Prince shut the window with a loud bang that vibrated throughout the room. "There are a lot of things I don't want."

"Like giving that speech?" Felix smirked. "Maybe you should put a non-smoking message in there."

"You don't get it."

"Yeah I do Noctis! I lived on the streets, in case you forgot! Do you really want to end up like those old men you see who cough every time they breathe?"

"I haven't smoked in over a year!"

"Yeah, so don't smoke for another year. And then another, and another, and all the years until you die, NOT due to lung cancer-"

"I am not going to get cancer, alright?!" Noctis yelled, storming over to his bed and landing head first onto the covers. Silence reigned for a while.

"Sorry Noct." Muttered the blonde after a moment. "I forgot."

"Yeah, well I didn't." He grumbled. "Just... leave me alone Felix, okay?"

"... Give me the cigarettes first." He walked over and sat on the bed. No response. "Give me the cigarettes or I'll take 'em by force."

"Fine." Noctis felt in his pockets and pulled out of packet of cigarettes. "I'm keeping the lighter though."

"Okay." Felix grabbed the cigarettes and stood up. "Night Noct." And with that, he left.

The Prince turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling once more.

_People of Tenebrae...._

_I'm sorry._

_I'm going to end up helping to pull away your loved ones._

_I'm going to be responsible for their deaths._

_How am I supposed to glorify war when it's the complete opposite?_

* * *

The building was derelict, and in ruins.

But it was shelter.

Vanille, Snow and Sazh had fallen asleep hours ago.

Lightning was on edge, her nerves anxious with being in a new location.

It was icy cold, she thought to herself. Vanille had about three blankets thrown over her. Sazh had two, and Snow, as his name implied was used to cold conditions, so he only had one. Lightning too was using just one. The cold kept her alert. She examined her gunblade, the dim light from the street made the metal glisten.

_How many lives have I taken with this at other's command?_

_And now another's got to be added to the list._

_Noctis... I don't have a choice._

_You may not be a bad person, but it doesn't matter._

_You've got to die._**I know not a lot happened in this chapter, but I kind of needed it here - Like a stepping stone.**

* * *

**Okay, lots of new people, so here are the names:**

**Phobos - Greek. Means fear.**

**Placido (Glasses guy)- Latin. Means calm, quiet. I think he's going to be the 'mature' one.**

**Lexus (Scar dude) - Latin. Short form of 'Alexus', meaning defender.**

**Arminius - Latin. Means Army Man.**

**Ireneus - Latin. Means peaceful.**

**Timaeus - Laitn. Means honor.**

**Okay, just to stem any complaints - Noctis smoking. I do not support smoking in any way, shape, or form. I think it is a vile, disgusting habit. I know someone who died of lung cancer due to smoking.**

**But I had a dream where Noctis was smoking due to extreme stress. And I really wanted to put flaws in both Noctis and Lightning - Smoking will be one of Noctis'. Lightning will lash out quite a bit, so that'll be one of her's. There will be other flaws, but you'll have to wait and see for those ones.**

**Please oh please review! I think I reviewed to all the reviews for this story - If not, let me know. But thank you all for them! I love you guys so much.**

**Now - FLY MY PRETTIES! FLY!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, mo charas! (i.e., my friends. I've been learning Irish, it hasn't gone well)**

**Sorry for the wait, but now I am back in the country, my writing should speed up again. Yay! (By the way, have you seen the videos of the demos? It's sooo cool, and sooo frustrating at the same time, XD)**

**On a more serious, if depressing note, I've decided to dedicate this story to my gran, who passed away about a year ago. She loved reading, so I'd like to think she'd like a story in memory of her.**

**Argh, I'm in such a depressed mood today! Where's the rest of my easter egg?**

* * *

"Do you and the idea of sleep hate each other?" Snow asked in a whisper in the early hours of the morning.

"Snow Villers, shut your mouth before I shut it for you." Lightning snapped, fighting back a yawn.

"Seriously though, get some sleep." He responded, ignoring the threat. He was used to them – Lightning threatened someone about once a day. Normally it was him.

"I don't need or want any sleep."

"Everyone needs sleep. So get some."

"Whether I get sleep or not is none of your business."

"Yeah, but if you fail your mission due to lack of sleep, it is my business." He gave her a long look. She sighed.

"I doubt that. My mission, my failure."

"My friend, another death on my conscience." Snow said gravely. "I still haven't forgotten, Lightning." Her face set like stone.

"If you are so concerned about sleep, then you better get some." She said quietly. He sighed and rolled onto his side. She remained sitting up until she heard his snores echo through the condemned building. She lay down and gazed upwards. Through a hole in the ceiling, she could see a moon, slightly covered by clouds. She frowned.

_Do not start raining. I have enough to deal with without the weather deciding to hate us all._

* * *

Noctis was leaning back in a chair, semi asleep. He was desperately trying to make a speech that was a least partly true. The problem was that making a speech glorifying war, in his opinion, would involve a rather large amount of lying through his teeth.

_War is hard... No, war is necessary... NO.... Humanity must put an end to war, or war will put an end to humanity..... True, but no.... In war, things will break, but people's spirit cannot. Ugh, terrible and cheesy, but it'll work._

_Proinde, quisquis vota pro pacis, permissum him instruo pro bellum._

It was an old saying, in the annuals of history. It was a lie. But he couldn't think of anything else to end his speech with. With a deep sigh, he sat upright and wrote it down.

_**Therefore, whoever vows for peace, let him prepare for war.**_

"Rubbish." He muttered darkly. He was incredibly annoyed. There was a ringing in his ears, which he slowly realised was the sound of a clock.

_One... two... three..._

Three in the morning. Noctis dropped the pen in his hand and pushed the chair back with a deafening screech. He had to be awake in two hours, to leave for the conference.

He had enough. And worse, thanks to Felix, he couldn't have a cigarette.

He knew that Felix, Lexus and Placido were only trying to look out for him. He knew that, but it didn't stop him resenting it.

In a way, it would be nice when he was finally king. No one to boss him around.

Although he would have to listen to the council all the time. Oh what joy, he thought as he clambered into his bed.

_Every silver lining has a cloud._

He smirked as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Vanille, wake up!" Lightning yelled, standing next to the slumbering woman. It was early in the morning, five o'clock to be precise, but she wanted to get moving, right now. "VANILLE!"

"Lightning there's no point." Snow pointed out calmly from the other side of the room they had slept in. "Remember that time, when there was that hurricane? She slept through that, she's going to sleep through your yelling."

"Shut UP Snow." She knelt down and shook Vanille. "WAKE UP!!"

"Hm?" Vanille sleepily raised her head. "Whuzgoinon?"

"Well, we're awake, and we're trying to wake you up."

"Actually, you're the only one trying to wake her up Lightning."

"Snow, can you just shut up!?"

"Immawake, i'mawake." Vanille sat up groggily. "Justdonshakeme."

"It's the only way to wake you up." Lightning snapped, standing up and rubbing her back as she did. This was noticed by Vanille.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, it's just that damp concrete and sore backs don't go well together. Now up!"

"I'm getting up." She grumbled, clambering to her feet. "Where's Sazh?"

"Beats me." Snow muttered from in the corner of the room. "All I know was he said he thought he had a lead."

"I do have a lead!" Sazh yelled, navigating his way back into the derelict building, waving a newspaper in his hand. "The Pri... Target is giving a speech tonight."

"What?" Lightning marched over to Sazh, and snatched the newspaper from his hand. She scanned it intensely, although she didn't need to. It was there, in black and white. It even had a picture of him on the front, similar to the one in the file she had read beforehand.

"You better get it done tonight Light. Or else..." Snow drew a finger across his neck.

"Yeah, I know." She grumbled darkly as she scanned the rest of the article. "Bloody hell."

"What?"

"'The Prince will be giving a speech proceeding the planned conflict in Pulse-'" She read out, before being interrupted by Vanille.

"What planned conflict in Pulse? There isn't any!"

"'-The planned conflict in Pulse, a direct result of the assassination of the counsellor Vere two days ago.'" Silence passed between the four.

"Holy _**shit **_Lightning." Snow said. "You've really outdone yourself this time. You've started a war!"

"I noticed!" She yelled, throwing the newspaper onto the floor. She swore angrily and marched out of the building into the city.

_Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

_I need to get rid of him. Now._

* * *

"Noctis! Let's go!"

"I'm coming, hold on!" The Prince yelled, searching his room for his left boot, which he had kicked off last night. "Where the hell is it?"

"Where's what?"

"My boot!"

"On your foot?"

"Evidently not." Noctis felt under the bed, and smirked with triumph as he grabbed onto it. "Found it!" He pulled it onto his left foot quickly, stood up, then proceeded to run out of the door.

"Come on then!" Lexus was already running down the corridor. "We're already late!"

"I'm aware of that." Noctis sighed as he ran.

"Then speed up!"

* * *

Lightning was cursing herself for not thinking this through. She had run off, letting her anger rule her head, yet again.

_This keeps happening._

She scowled and punched a nearby wall in frustration, wincing slightly as she realised she had not made a correct fist.

"Damn it!" She hissed, grabbing her fist in her other hand and rubbing it. She breathed out slowly and calmed herself down.

_Focus on getting the job done. A war's a war. It would have happen no matter what you did._

_Just focus._

Lightning nodded to herself and walked away, shivering slightly. She wrapped her arms around herself and mouthed a few curses.

_Why is it always so damn COLD here? At least it's warm on Pulse... damp, but warm._

"Way to focus." She muttered darkly, shuffling her feet. This was NOT like her. Head up!

"I am a soldier, not some weak little girl!" She snapped. Lightning flinched at her own words, practically tasting the irony. "That was then, this is now." She told herself.

* * *

"I _said _going left would be quicker."

"Felix, do you want to drive?"

"No."

"Good. Shut up."

"Felix might have a point-"

"Noctis, _I_ am driving _you_. It is not the other way around, and if your uncle found out it was, I'd get shot." Noctis sighed and slumped back in his seat. Placido, who was normally calm, seemed to go on edge whenever he was near a vehicle.

_I guess it means we're less likely to crash._

"He wouldn't SHOOT you."

"He would Felix."

"This country is screwed up!" Felix yelled, throwing his arms up into the air. Noctis raised a single eyebrow.

"Oi."

"Oh... er... Sorry Noct." The blonde stuttered. The Prince smirked slightly and gazed out of the window as Lexus and Placido started arguing. He looked at the streets, barely light by the rising sun.

This was his kingdom... at least it was going to be one day.

He did love it. Well, he had a duty to it. The duty to this kingdom, and the crystal it housed, ran in him, in his mother's blood.

"Can I turn the radio on?"

"Whatever Felix." Placido sighed. "Just don't choose the airport station."

"That is an awesome station-" Felix began, as Lexus interrupted.

"Do NOT put it on Felix."

"Fine. You guys are no fun, do you hear me? NO FUN!" Felix grumbled as he fiddled with the knobs on the radio. "Crap. Crap. Crap."

"Language Felix."

"Poo. Poo."

"Go back to using crap." Placido muttered, never taking his eyes from the road.

Noctis remained leaning against the glass of the window, which was like a sheet of ice. Tenebrae was a freezing country. The streets were empty, due to the cold and the early hour.

And then he saw a flash of colour in the grey streets. His heart froze.

"STOP THE CAR!" He yelled, surprising himself at the loudness of his voice. Placido slammed on the brakes, making the car hiss to a stop. "Stay here." Noctis ordered, opening the door and sprinting after the figure. The trio exchanged glances.

"What the hell?" Felix muttered.

"Can't be anything good." Placido said, opening the car's glove compartment with a click. "Get ready."

* * *

"Lightning!" The woman spun around and locked eyes with her target.

Noctis.

She quickly noticed that he was no longer wearing a suit, but more casual clothes.

_He must have been on the way to give his speech._

She saw his eyes had turned a deadly shade of red. Her hand darted back to her holster, where her gunblade was resting.

"You're an assassin." He stated. "You killed counsellor Vere, you've managed to plunge both of our countries into war." He sounded calm, but if you listened carefully, you could hear the repressed rage. "What the hell do you think you're going to achieve by doing that?"

Lightning slowly pulled out her weapon, stepping back into a fighting stance.

"So I was right." Noctis muttered. "I am your target."

"It's nothing personal." Lightning replied, keeping her eyes open for any sign of attack. "Just orders." Noctis remained still for a moment, before summoning a sword with an engine wielded onto it.

"Neither is this." He darted forwards, bringing the sword back to lash out. She blocked it and stepped back, before back flipping several meters away from him.

_First rule of combat – Try to create distance between yourself and the target._

She changed her weapon into the gun and breathed out, timing her shots with her breathing, as she had been taught. The bullets speed towards him, before stopping and falling to the ground with a gentle clatter. Her eyes widened slightly.

_That was.... unexpected._

There was a flash and he appeared in front of Lightning. Swearing in her mind, she switched her weapon back into a sword, and lashed out. He blocked it with ease.

"I thought you said you could defeat me." He said coolly. She scowled and leapt back again, thinking as she did so.

_Bullets aren't going to work. It's going to be a sword killing... I hate those._

She landed lightly on her feet, and reconsidered. She stuck out her hand, causing a ball of flame to shoot at the prince. There was another flash, and he appeared on the other side of the street, before charging towards her.

This time she ducked down and kicked his legs away. She smirked as he fell to the floor, and drew her sword back while standing up.

"NOCT!!" There was a shot that barely went over her head. Lightning looked up to see three men running towards them. Felix was holding up his shotgun, obviously being the one who had fired. Placido had his revolver in one hand, and Lexus had his rifle in his hands, ready to fire.

Noctis took the moment of surprise to lunge at Lightning, heading her in the stomach and knocking her backwards. She landed on her back and quickly rolled backwards, changing her weapon into a gun. Crouching down, she fired warning shots at the three men.

Noctis lashed out again with his sword as she heard a squeal of wheels. She turned her head and looked at Snow, who was staring over her shoulder with a look of horror.

"You IDIOT!" He yelled. Both Lightning and Noctis followed his gaze.

* * *

Something had hit him in the chest. He felt like he had been punched. But there wasn't an enemy close enough to have hit him, and his friend's wouldn't have hit him in the chest. Strange. Very strange.

The street suddenly seemed to be running uphill. It was straight, he knew that it was flat, but now it was slanting. Also, all the colours seemed to be vanishing from his sight. There were only the occasional flashes, a black car, the pale blue sky...

...The red blood.

It was only then he heard someone scream his name.

"FELIX!!"

* * *

Noctis felt the strength go out of his legs as he watched his friend fall to the ground with a thud. Lexus and Placido knelt down next to him, Lexus repeatedly calling his name and Placido checking his pulse, his breathing...

The Prince of Tenebrae turned to face Lightning. Her face was slightly pale, her eyes wide.

"You..." His voice trailed off, unable to find the correct words. "You... You **BITCH**!" He screamed, summoning all of his weapons around him, his eyes turning a darker shade of red.

Lightning leapt backwards avoiding the first sword swing, blocking the second swing, and rolling away from the bullet fire.

"Lightning!" The man on the motorcycle yelled over the chaos that had erupted. "Get over here, now. That's an _order_." He snapped. Lightning scowled.

"You have NO command over me Snow!" She yelled, blocking another sword swing.

Noctis leapt back, and threw an assortment of weapons at Lightning, who dodged and blocked each one. Lightning lashed out with her sword again, which Noctis blocked. He vanished again, and appeared behind her. She rolled away, but was grabbed by Snow.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" She hissed angrily. Snow shoved her onto the motorcycle, climbed on and drove off before she could begin to react.

Noctis dropped his main sword, _Somnus_, onto the street making the other weapons vanish and raced over to his friends.

"He's losing a lot of blood." Placido explained, with a look of immense worry on his face. "We need to get him to the hospital now."

"Ambulance or should we drive him?" Lexus asked, who had taken off his jacket which was now wrapped around the wound in Felix's rib.

"Us driving him would be faster." Placido looked up at Noctis. "What the hell was that about?" There was no need to ask what that he was referring to.

"I'll explain later." Noctis looked down at his unconscious friend. "All I care about is Felix surviving."

* * *

_Noctis... What the hell are you?!_

_An expert fighter, that's one thing for sure._

_Your friend... the blonde one... I never meant to shoot him. It was supposed to be a warning shot... Why __wasn't__ it a warning shot?_

_I've been called a bitch so much; the word has lost all meaning._

_And yet... when you said it, it did hurt. It hurt like it hasn't for years._

_You're making me feel again._

_And that's a bigger danger than all the weapons in the world._

* * *

_Felix, don't die._

_You can't give up. You're too strong for that, you're too smart for that, despite what we say._

_Just don't die on us. We need you... I need you._

_This is all my fault! If I had let the council know about Lightning, then she could have been captured, and you wouldn't be here, lying in this hospital bed, clinging onto life by a thread._

_They say that if you recover, you should be fine._

_But if is such a big word._

_I'll get her._

_Even if I have to wait a million years._

_I'm going to kill her._

* * *

***Dodges various items being throw at her***

**Yes, I shot Felix! I'm sorry, I didn't want to shoot him, but someone had to get shot, and he was the one that came out of the hat! Blame the hat, not me!**

**Oh, and the little scene in the car is starting to turn into a fully fledged story... you'll see soon enough.**

**And the Latin phrase: I'll admit, I used a translation machine. I tried learning Latin for about a year... it's worse than my Irish. But I double checked all the translations and the quote was by one of those old Roman historians. I can't remember which one.**

**OH MY GOD!!!**

**Sorry, but my mum has just come into my room (to tell me about a program on C.S. Lewis) and told me that when I was six, a psychologist (don't ask, XD) said I would be a writer when I was older.**

**.............. That is really, really, really, really creepy.**

**This is a seriously creeped out authoress, saying see you soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**ARGH!!! I AM SO ANNOYED AT FANFICTION!!! THEY LOGGED ME OUT WHEN I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF EDITING THIS!!! Grrrr...**

**Anyway, to recap what I _was_ writing, I hate this chapter. I promise the next one will be better.**

**Disclaimer: (A la Tarzan) Sunflower no own Final Fantasy XIII. Sunflower no own Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Sunflower says no Square Enix lawyers sue her.**

* * *

Noctis hated hospitals. He hated the smell of them, the stench of bleach, disinfect, and something far, far worse. He hated the chairs, half of which were broken. He hated the doctors and nurses, who smiled sympathetically every time you caught a glimpse of one of them in the corridors. He hated the stuck up, unhelpful secretaries.

But what he really, really hated was the fact that his friend was lying unconscious in one of the claustrophobic rooms, after having a bullet removed from his ribs.

Lexus, Placido and Noctis were just sitting in the room, not daring to tear their eyes from Felix's form. As if looking away would make the slow rise and fall of his chest vanish.

"Who was she Noctis?" Placido asked, half an hour after they had been let into the room, the first words spoken between them. Noctis flinched as if Placido had hit him.

"An assassin called Lightning. She shot councillor Vere." He replied slowly. There was a long silence.

"How do you know her name?"

"What?" Noctis looked up at Lexus.

"How do you know her name? No one else knew it."

"She told me."

"Liar." Lexus stood up. "I know you're lying Noctis, you're terrible at it. How do you know her name?"

"She did tell me!"

"When?"

"Before... before..." Noctis sighed deeply. He had to tell them the truth. Not telling the truth had led to this. "Before Councillor Vere was shot."

The silence was only broken by the beep of the machine's monitoring Felix.

"You knew who she was, and you didn't tell the council? Why not?" Placido asked calmly.

"Because.... I just _couldn't_." He knew it was a stupid answer.

_These are your __**friends**__. If you can't tell them the truth, who are you going to tell?_

"I went to get some air, and she was outside. I talked to her for a bit." Noctis explained. "I didn't know she was an assassin then-"

"I bloody well hope not." Lexus muttered darkly. Noctis glared slightly at the older man before continuing.

"- So I just... talked to her. Then I gave my speech... I talked to her again....." The memory of exactly what happened next replayed in his mind.

"Then?" Placido filled in the gap. Noctis took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

_A problem shared is a problem halved, right? Besides, Lexus and Placido might be able to give me a hand..._

"I..... I...." Noctis searched desperately for the right words. "Kissed her?"

"WHAT?!" Lexus and Placido screamed at the same time.

"I didn't mean to! I grabbed her, and she pulled back, so I sort of fell forwards..." Noctis trailed off. There was a long pause.

Placido chuckled slightly.

"That's one way to get information."

"You think I like it that I kissed someone who is responsible for putting Felix in hospital?" Noctis yelled. "I hate it! I hate HER!" He leant back in his chair, the energy draining out of him.

"You've got to tell the council Noct." Lexus said. "They need the information."

"You think I'm going to leave this up to them?" Noctis shook his head furiously. "I'm dealing with this."

"What are you going to do that the council won't?" Placido countered.

"I'm going to kill her." The Prince replied. There was a long silence.

"I presume you mean that literally." Placido mused.

"Yeah, I do." He kept his gaze on the machines that monitored Felix. Their vigil fell silent again.

"............... Mind if we help you?"

* * *

"What the HELL did you think you were doing!?" Lightning yelled at Snow, now having arrived back at the crumbling building. "I _could_ have gotten him! I could have completed my mission, if you had just let me be!!"

"Oh don't be so arrogant Lightning!" Snow snapped. "There was no way you were going to be able to get him! You would have gotten yourself killed, and you know it!"

"I wouldn't, because I'm not as weak as you are!" Lightning bellowed, clenching her fists. Snow scowled, annoyed at Lightning's stubbornness.

Vanille and Sazh were crouching in the doorway, unseen by the two soldiers, listening in on the argument.

"Weakness has got nothing to do with it, it's to do with the fact he had three friends with guns – Well, until you shot one."

"Don't you _**dare**_ bring that up." Lightning's voice went icy cold, the sort that even sent a chill up the top people in Phoenix.

"Did you forget to aim?" Snow ploughed on. "What the hell were you thinking? You engaged a target in head on combat? One of the first rules of assassination-"

"He engaged me." She replied.

"What, he pulled out a sword and attacked you?"

"Something like that."

"Why would he engage a total stranger in combat?"

"I don't bloody well know!" She snapped, clenching her fists even tighter.

"You're lyi – Hell." Snow stared at her. "You did lie to Phobos! Bloody hell, what were you thinking -"

"I didn't lie!" Lightning yelled. Snow pretended he hadn't heard this.

"You're going to get yourself killed. If not by Tenebrea, then by Phoenix!"

"Like you care!"

"I do care, actually!" Snow looked at her angrily... but there was care in those eyes. "I went through a lot of shit for you Lightning, and I don't want it to be all for nothing-"

Snow was cut off by Lightning punching him in the face. He fell backwards, sprawling onto the floor. She was breathing hard, her anger barely contained.

"I owe you nothing." She hissed, almost silently, before turning on her heels and leaving the building. Snow sat up and rubbed his aching jaw.

Sazh turned to Vanille, who was watching the retreating Lightning. With a sigh, he stood up and walked over to Snow.

"You okay?"

"She has got one _hell_ of a left hook." The blonde man smiled, although sadly, and avoiding the question, a trick he had picked up from Lightning. Sazh sat down next to Snow.

"What was all that about?"

* * *

_There was electricity in the air – Pulse was in the middle of the monsoon season. Rain was falling heavily, the air was thick, moist, warm and heavy._

_He was in one of the few large settlements on Pulse, trying to buy supplies. He had taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way – He was stuck in the old, twisting, abandoned back streets._

_He swore under his breath as he looked for a sign post. Those that had been there were covered in what looked suspiciously like ash. He hated to think what happened in these streets when it was dry. Now it was wet, and no-one sane or not lost would be out in these streets – They'd be hiding where there was shelter._

_Looking around, he saw someone was insane or lost. A pair of legs could be seen, sticking out from under a cardboard box. They were skinny, bruised, tired. He walked over to the box._

"_Hello? Hello? Are you okay?" He knelt down and looked under the box._

_The figure's eyes were closed, as if at peace. But the arms told a different story – the truth._

_Cuts running across the wrists, bleeding heavily._

_Suicide._

_Swearing heavily, the man pulled the person up from its slouching position against the wall. He could hear their breathing, slow and shaky. He examined the wrists – They'd need serious medical attention. Until he worked out where he was, never mind where the nearest hospital was, he'd have to do his best. _

_He pulled off his coat, and wrapped it around the wrists, almost tying them together. He felt like he was taking a prisoner._

"_Get a grip." He told himself. "There's a life a stake."_

* * *

Sazh's mouth fell open.

"That was..." He couldn't finish the sentence. It seemed ludicrous, yet it was the only thing that made sense. The only reason he'd be telling this story. Snow nodded slowly.

"Yes. That person was Lightning."

* * *

Noctis couldn't understand his uncle at points.

The underpaid nurse had shuffled into the room a few minutes after their conversation had ended, to let 'His majesty' know that 'The king' had been on the phone, demanding he continued to give his speech.

Noctis was muttering various curses under his breath as he was speed along the roads of Tenebrea.

_Your friend has just been shot and HE wants you to give a damned speech!_

Noctis had never had the smoothest relationship with his uncle. He was too... reserved, conservative. Too set in the old ways of Tenebrea, the old values and traditions. Honour and duty came above all else.

For Noctis, it was his friends that came first. Honour came far down the list. Duty was high up.... but that was nowhere near as important as Felix.

The car pulled up at the building, where the press were gathered outside, taking photographs of the car pulling up. Noctis groaned audibly, before opening the door. Instantly he was almost blinded by the camera flashes.

_Here we go......_

"Your highness-"

"Your majesty-"

"Excuse me, let me through!" A woman with a very angular face pushed her way in front of the other reporters. "Joanne Smith, Minerva Reporter, is it true you are against the conflict in Pulse?"

_Stupid bloody media._

"I am not fond of anything that may lead to a loss of life." Noctis said bluntly, trying to find a path that would lead him past the least amount of reporters.

"Excuse me, oi, move it or lose it sister!" Noctis shuddered involuntarily. He knew that voice, it rang in his head, bringing back anger Noctis had reserved for Lightning. A weedy man with blonde hair and brown eyes slid right next to the Prince.

"Nicomedes-" He began to introduce himself.

"I know who you are." Noctis replied, sounding bored in order to hide his anger.

"You remember me then." Nicomedes smiled smugly.

"I'm hardly likely to forget."

"Well then, perhaps you can answer a question for me." The reporter pushed in front of Noctis, meaning he had no choice but to stare at this... scum in the face.

"I'd rather not."

"Is it true one of your companions is in a critical condition in hospital?" The reporter grinned as Noctis' face paled considerably. "Is it fatal? Is it just a matter of time before he passes?"

"Shut up and get out of my face." Noctis hissed.

"Could his death be the first of many?"

"He's not going to die."

"I remember you saying those words a few years ago-"

"If you ever come near me again," Noctis whispered. "Near my friends, my family, I will make sure the only thing that ever get's published with your name will be your obituary."

"The truth always comes out, your majesty."

"Get out of my way." Noctis shoved past the reporter, knocking him to the ground. 100 odd digital clicks were heard as a 100 odd photographers caught the moment. "Shame about these uneven pavements, isn't it?" Noctis smiled cruelly and walked on.

* * *

"She tried to commit suicide?" Vanille was sitting next to Snow, determined to get to the end of the story.

"Depression. She got it really badly.... she couldn't cope." Snow trailed off slightly.

"That explains it!" She said after a moment. "Finally!"

"Explains what?" Sazh looked at the young woman, who smiled slightly.

"Well, you've always been really protective of Lightning."

"I'm protective of you as well!"

"Yeah, but not in the same way." Vanille stood up, clearly warming to her theme. "You see Snow, you are protective of me as in you don't want me to get shot. You're physically protective. Whereas with Lightning, you're mentally protective. You know she can look after herself physically, but you worry about how she's feeling, and if she's upset. See?"

"Since when did you become a scholar?" Sazh grinned. Snow stared at the floor.

"I have my reasons for that."

"I'm not saying you don't have a reason, or that it's a bad thing, I'm just saying it's finally an explanation." Vanille smiled sadly. "Cheer up!"

"How am I supposed to cheer up?!" Snow asked. "If they nearly killed her when she failed the first time, what the hell are they going to do to her now?!"

* * *

"I'm sorry I can't take you any further."

"That's fine." Lightning undid her seat-belt and climbed out of the truck. She pushed some gil into the man's hand. "Thanks."

"No problem. You take care of yourself." The man smiled at her as she closed the door and walked away.

Hitch-hiking wasn't the wisest move Lightning had ever made, but she was tired, she had walked all the way from the city to the border, sneaked across it, and then nearly got hit by the driver of the truck.

After his rather unnecessary apologies, he offered to give her a lift. Sheer exhaustion made her agree.

She still had a long way to go though; she thought rubbing her calves as the man drove off. It had begun to rain, cool water splashing down on her.

_Shame it's going to make things harder..._

With a barely audible sigh, she walked into the jungle of Pulse.

* * *

Noctis slipped silently into the hospital.

The press conference had turned into a witch hunt over him pushing Nicomedes. No doubt he would soon get the raging phone call from his uncle.

But if anyone thought he would be civil to Nicomedes, that bastard that had haunted his every step as his parents vanished from his life, they were the biggest idiots he'd ever encountered.

Noctis walked through the maze of corridors, remembering every step he had taken that morning.

Was Felix okay?

He HAD to be. He was Felix, the consummate survivor.

Still, his fingers remained tightly crossed as he walked into the small room. His eyes darted instinctively towards the bed.

"I'm unconscious for a few hours, and you assault a reporter!" Felix was lying in the bed, a small smile across his face. "You're useless without me!"

Noctis returned the smile, unable to summon any words.

"I think that's the first time you've EVER been speechless." Lexus commented, still sitting in the same place as before. Noctis scratched the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly.

"How did you know I assaulted a reporter?" Noctis couldn't help but wonder.

"News." Felix nodded to Placido who smirked.

"I was getting a coffee in the canteen and a story came on that crappy T.V. they have in there." Placido raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"It was Nicomedes." Noctis said as an explanation. Lexus stiffened in his chair, the smirk fell off Placido's face, and Felix made a noise like an angry cat.

"Okay, you let me at that bastard!" The blonde made an attempt to sit up, but winced.

"Sit down you idiot!" Placido ordered. "We've got enough issues to deal with, without you bursting something!"

"What issues?" Felix looked at his friends. "What are you guys planning?"

"Nothing." Lexus answered too quickly. Felix raised an eyebrow.

"Liar."

"Nothing that concerns you." Noctis explained. "Felix, please just rest."

"Noctis, I may be blonde, but I'm not dumb." The man crossed his arms, wincing as his ribs protested.

"Please just rest." The Prince repeated. Felix stared his three friends, continuing to fight off the remnants of the anaesthesia which made him want to fall back into the pillows and sleep.

"What are you going to do?" He repeated, feeling sleepier. Noctis just smiled sadly.

"Go to sleep Felix. We'll see you soon, okay?" Felix blinked.

"Look, whatever you guys are going to do..." He trailed off. "I'm fairly sure you shouldn't."

"We can look after ourselves." Lexus grinned quickly, before wiping it from his face. "Ur, not that you couldn't... It wasn't your fau...."

"You're going after her, aren't you!?" Felix suddenly yelled, showing another glimpse of quick thinking. "Are you guys insane?! It's a war zone there, well, almost! Have any of you ever BEEN to Pulse before? It's a big country, what makes you think you're going to find her?!"

The room fell silent.

_But of course_, Felix thought, slightly amused. _They'll have already thought of that. And decided to go on the seat of their pants._

"See you Felix." Noctis left the room, followed by Placido, and Lexus, who gave him a quick hug.

Felix's eyes flickered shut as his mind drifted back.

The pain in his ribs would never completely leave him, no matter what the doctors said.

That bitch had left her mark alright.

* * *

"Oof!" Lightning slid down the mud drenched hill, ignoring the explosions of her namesake overhead. Standing up she looked at how far she had fallen.

_Focus. Don't look back, look forwards! You're in __PULSE__. Keep an eye out for monsters._

Lightning smiled slightly as she walked on, gunblade drawn. The word monsters reminded her of her childhood, when she used to investigate in her wardrobe, looking for monsters or hidden worlds...

Her smile fell off her face as she remembered the day she found a real monster.

She reached the cliff face and quickly found the foot and hand holds she and Snow had made years ago. Snapping her fingers to create a gravity shield just in case she fell, she climbed to the top quickly.

The cliff wasn't high, just steep.

Pulling onto the ledge, she shuffled along the rock until she came to the crack in the wall. She slid into it, and half walked, half ran into the depths of the cave. She wasn't experiencing total cave darkness, but she still walked into a few rocks.

Eventually, the cave widened, and in the centre sat the object they had stumbled upon all these years ago.

With a sense of relief, Lightning walked towards the crystal.

* * *

_We're on our way._

_Next stop: Pulse._

_Of course, Timaeus doesn't know. I doubt he'd approve of me journeying into a 'dangerous' country._

_This isn't a war between our countries, Lightning._

_This is a war between us._

_You're not the only one who can kill._

* * *

_Tenebrea to Pulse is a long journey._

_Still, at least I'm here now._

_But.... the Fal'Cie.... It's uneasy._

_I can't help but think it's plotting._

_No, that's stupid._

_Isn't it?_

_God, I'm tired. _

_I'm just... so... damn tired._

_That's all._

_I'm just tired..._**IT SUCKS SO BAD!!! T.T**

* * *

**I promise, the next chapter will be better! I swear! Pinky promise!**

**And I know the Lightning/Depression/Suicide thing might seem a bit over dramatic, but it will make sense... eventually.**

**Now, to fly before Fanfiction log me off again.**

**Please review!**

**I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! (But not in a creepy way)**


	5. Chapter 5

**HEYA CHICAS!!!**

**Sorry for the long wait, but I've had a LOT of stuff going on lately - Exams, coursework, family crisis, etc. I think this chapter is a bit better than the last one, but not by much... T.T**

**Still, I'm here now! And thank you all so much for the reviews! I was reading them today 'cause I was a bit down and they really cheered me up, so YAY!**

**Oh, by the way, you MUST listen to 'Still Alive' by Lisa Miskovsky (Yeah, it's the Mirror's Edge theme - Which by the way is an awesome game - And it is incredible)**

**Okay, done plugging my song of the moment - Let's rock this joint!**"Are we there yet?"

* * *

"Lexus?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm replacing Felix." The scarred man responded sarcastically.

"DON'T." Placido said sharply, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "Just don't."

"Sorry." Lexus leant back in his seat next to Noctis and raised his eyebrows at the Prince. Noctis said nothing. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine." Noctis muttered. _Liar_, hissed a voice in his head. "Tired, that's all."

"You're always tired." Placido pointed out as they went over a pot hole.

"Shut _up_." The prince muttered darkly.

"Look, get some sleep. It's going to take us a while to get there anyway." Lexus said calmly. Noctis leant back against the seat, ignoring the headache forming in his skull.

* * *

Felix opened his eyes and groaned.

Perfect. They had left. And he wasn't going to get discharged for a few days at best. So, he'd be lonely, AND his friends would be risking their lives without him, and he wouldn't know what was going on.

Because he highly doubted Noctis would tell his uncle. He never told him anything if he could avoid it. Not that Felix could blame him.

Felix fidgeted in an attempt to get more comfortable and froze.

There was a figure in the doorway.

"... Hello?" He asked out loud. "Heeeellllloooo?"

"Hi!" The figure stepped forwards. Felix breathed out a sigh of relief – It was just a woman, no visible weapons. "I just came to see if you were okay." She shuffled her feet slightly.

"Oh... are you one of these friends of the hospital people?" He asked. She shook her head and giggled slightly.

"No!" She smiled, a warm natural smile that spread easily over her face. "I'm Oerba Dia Vanille, but everyone calls me Vanille."

"Sounds like the-"

"If you say it sounds like the ice-cream I will poke your ribcage so hard your stitches burst." Vanille interrupted. Felix gulped slightly.

"Sounds like a lovely name."

"Thank you!" She walked over to the bed. "I just came to make sure you're okay."

"Uh...." Felix frowned. "How do I know you?"

"You don't." Vanille shrugged. "But I know you got shot."

"Oh, on the news? You don't want to pay any attention to what that bastard Nicomedes says-"

"Who's Nicomedes?"

"Not the news then." He smiled. "That's relief... I think." Vanille giggled.

"So...." She held out a box. "Do you like fudge?"

* * *

"Noctis?" The prince opened his eyes and blinked to get rid of the drowsiness. "We're here."

"Oh, right." Noctis opened the door and stepped out. The rain that was falling was heavier than he had ever seen rain fall before.

"Screw the rain we get in Tenebrea! _This_," Lexus yelled over the thunderstorm. "THIS is rain!" Noctis shielded his eyes in order to try and see properly.

"There's a village over there." Placido jerked his thumb towards a few buildings. "We should start looking there."

"We could also find some shelter." Lexus muttered, already walking towards the village. Placido and Noctis followed, the latter massaging his temples.

_Stupid damned headache. Blasted humidity..._

There was a sudden crash and several loud curses.

"Get out of here you bum! Pay for yer drinks or get plastered elsewhere!" Snapped a man, as another man staggered out of a nearby building. He cursed loudly and shakily walked away.

"Looks like we've found a pub." Lexus said bluntly.

"What makes you think that?" Placido asked sarcastically. More thunder and lightning erupted across the sky. "Christ!"

"Let's just get in there. Blasted rain." Noctis muttered.

"You're in one of your sunshine moods, aren't you?"

"Shut it."

The trio walked into the relative dryness of the pub. There was a low buzz of chatter, which heightened slightly at the appearance of the three strangers.

"You," The bartender suddenly spoke up. "Are from out of town." She looked at each of them in turn. Lexus spoke up.

"Yep. Your point is?"

"We've got enough issues without _you lot_ coming in and causing hassle." She hissed.

"FOR GAWD'S SAKE GIRL!!!" A man suddenly came out from a room behind the bar. "As long as they pay for their damned drinks, who gives a flying monkeys where they come from?"

"No way am I serving them." She crossed her arms. "My brother died in the last conflict-"

"You and your brother didn't speak for 15 years, and you pushed a dead rat through his letterbox. Stop being a drama queen!" With a 'hmph', the girl walked away, leaving the man standing behind the bar shaking his head. "Jaysis."

"Nice girl." Placido muttered.

"Heh. Ignore her; she's got a stick up her arse. Name's Cid **(A/N: I GOT HIM IN!!!)**." Cid smiled. "What'll it be?"

Upon the acceptance of the strangers by the owner of the pub, the customers turned back to their drinks and original conversations.

"Anything wet. Is it always this humid?" Lexus sat down, as did the others.

"Yep." Cid began to pour some drinks. **(A/N: I'm fifteen; I don't know what men in their early twenties like to drink! Gimme a break!) **"Welcome to Pulse gentlemen."

"Thanks." Noctis rubbed his temples yet again, wincing at the headache. "May I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Cid handed over the drinks as Placido pushed some money onto the bar. "But not literally, like _some_ people do on Saturday nights." He added darkly.

"You wouldn't know anything about a group called Phoenix, would you?" Cid's eyes widened and the three men exchanged glances. After a moment, Cid leant over the counter, looking right into Noctis' eyes.

"Listen to me boy, and listen good. You go around asking questions like that, one morning you're going to wake up dead." He whispered. "Phoenix are bad news. And if anyone from there finds out you're asking questions, you're going to be on their hit list."

"He already is." Lexus spoke up. Cid stared at the group for a moment.

"Rest of your drink's are on the house. Least I can do." He muttered after a moment. "You're brave men, going after them."

"But what do they do?" Placido asked. Cid groaned before reaching for another glass and pouring himself a pint.

"Anything they need to do. I guess the best thing you can say about them is that they're determined."

Noctis stared down at his drink, which he hadn't touched. He blinked as he realised his concentration was going, while Cid continued talking.

_What the hell is wrong with me?_

He shook his head slightly and tried to rejoin the conversation.

"They'll take in people off the street. But they have no morals or loyalty. Some member apparently got whipped half to death for failing to assassinate someone."

_fal'Cie._

Noctis blinked in shock as a word drifted into his head. He knew that word of course, anyone who knew anything about the crystals did but... it sounded like someone had said it. He glanced over his shoulder, no-one was there.

_l'Cie. _

"Noctis, you okay?" Placido sounded like he was talking through water. Noctis looked up at him.

"I... I need some air." He managed to stutter, standing up as the voice got louder.

_Summoned._

_Crystal._

"NOCTIS!!"

The prince felt his head hit the ground before he passed out.

* * *

Timaeus stood on the balcony overlooking Tenebrea, a frown on his face.

He was worried about Noctis. He had never understood his nephew – Then again, he had never understood his sister.

Liana.

His sister, who had just given up. He owed it to her, he promised he would look after Noctis – But he didn't have a clue where he might be. He had phoned the hospital, but they said he wasn't there.

"M- my- My Lord." A servant suddenly appeared behind him. "I-I apologise for the interruption."

"There is no need to apologise." King Timaeus sighed. "What is it?"

"Well, my lord," The servant bit his lip. "It appears that the Prince Noctis... has left Tenebrea and headed to Pulse."

"What?!" Timaeus spluttered, before hastily regaining his composure. "Very well. Would you send for Arminius?"

"Yes my lord." The servant backed out of the room. Timaeus sighed and turned back to face Tenebrea.

Of course Noctis would go to Pulse. He should have known he would have.

"My Lord." Arminius appeared. "How may I assist you?"

"The troops are going to Pulse?"

"Yes, soon."

"Then look for Noctis while you are there." The king shuddered. "I have a bad feeling..."

* * *

"Noct! Wake up man! Come on Noct! Wake up!"

"Wha..." Noctis peeled his eyes open and winced at the torch light being shone in his face. "Ow! Are you _trying_ to blind me?"

"He's awake!" Lexus yelled, dropping the torch.

"I'm standing right next to you genius, no need to yell." Placido muttered, as Noctis sat up on the sofa they had laid him down on. "What are you doing!?"

"Lie down!" Cid yelled suddenly. "You smashed yer damned head against the floor! Had to bleedin' drag you into the back room!"

"I know what to do, stay here!" The Prince got off the sofa and ran towards the door.

"Noctis-"

"Bleedin' eejit-"

"I know what I'm doing!" He yelled as he exited the room, racing out of the pub.

_I know where you are._

* * *

"Vanille, will you hurry up?" Snow yelled as he attempted to prop the Shiva motorcycle up. It fell to the ground with a loud clang. "Urgh! Will you just **work**!?"

"I'm coming Snow!" Vanille hopped out of the abandoned house, pulling a boot on as she went.

"Good, we need to get back." He pulled Shiva up again. It fell down again, making Snow curse.

Vanille sighed slightly, wondering whether or not to tell Snow. She had just wanted to check that Felix was alright – Sometimes she felt like Lightning's conscience.

It turned out the blonde was... well, nice. She liked him, and funnily enough, he liked her. They'd even exchanged phone numbers.

But she felt guilty. It was because of one of _her_ best friends he had been shot.

No. She shouldn't tell Snow – Not yet anyway. He was already too worried about Lightning – which was the reason they were racing back to Pulse.

She walked over to the bike and helped him prop it up.

"Sazh'll catch up with us later, right?" She asked as he climbed on the bike.

"That's the plan. He needs to tie up a few things here first." He patted the seat and Vanille climbed on behind him. "Let's go."

And with that, he revved up the engine.

* * *

Noctis stood at the cliff face looking up. A passerby might have thought he was looking at the sky, but his eyes were focused on the cave, semi hidden from view.

She was in there. He knew it. Some called it gut instinct, he knew it was the crystal.

The crystal had told him where she was – So he could finish it. With a smirk, he felt the cliff face.

There were dents in the rock, foot and hand holds. Noctis wasn't a great climber, but he had to get up there. He owed to Felix, to the counsellor, to his country.

He grabbed hold of the slippery rock and started to climb.

* * *

_She's scared, look at her. Look how weak she is, how fragile, bewildered and helpless – Oh, she's very aware of her helplessness._

_Now watch her change. She's wary now. Watchful, missing nothing. She's planning now, she's a schemer._

_Watch her change – From prey to predator. _

_A necessary change you say? Maybe. Oh yes. Definitely yes._

_But how does a predator live with herself? What becomes of her? How does she exist?_

* * *

Noctis finished his climb and breathed out slowly.

He looked back at the path he had taken and smiled slightly. The cliff wasn't high – But he still didn't feel like falling off it.

He summoned _Somnus_ into his hand and walked into the cave. He winced as his eyes adjusted to the gloom of the cave. He slowly made his way through the cave, noticing it wasn't completely dark.

_Strange..._ He thought to himself as he walked into a rock. The Prince bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling. He had the element of surprise, and he didn't want to give it away.

The cave widened suddenly, and brightened. Noctis shut his eyes as his pupils shrank. He opened them slightly after a moment and turned his head to the left.

Lightning lay face down on the ground, extremely still. Noctis walked towards her slowly, tightening his grip on _Somnus_. He knelt down next to her, and noticed her slowly breathing.

She was asleep.

He scowled, a rush of anger making his eyes turn blood red. This assassin, a murderer who had taken countless lives was peacefully sleeping on the floor. It seemed like a massive injustice, people who had done no harm were dead because of her.

Noctis hated killing in cold blood. It was a horrible, filthy business. But now, right now, he couldn't think of a more fitting end. He stood up and raised his sword.

As he did so, he raised his head and saw the source of the light.

A crystal stood in the middle of the cave. He dropped his sword to his side and stared.

"So the rumours are true..." He muttered under his breath. Pulse was indeed a crystal bearing world.

The crystal was different to Tenebrea's. It was a shade of light purple, whereas Tenebrea's was light blue. He walked slowly towards it.

The crystal also seemed more... He couldn't describe it. The aura around it was stronger.

More controlling? That was it. Tenebrea's crystal was a power source more than anything, but this crystal was definitely alive.

Did it have l'Cie? Maybe that was it. Some crystals used l'Cie, whereas others didn't. Tenebrea's crystal didn't use l'Cie, but maybe Pulse's did.

"What are you doing here?" Noctis turned around at the acidic voice. Lightning was sitting up, glaring at him. "How did you get here? And get _away_ from the crystal!" The last sentence was an order. The Prince paused, before deciding to stand his ground.

"I'm surprised you haven't shot me already." He said calmly. Lightning stood up.

"I don't kill in front of crystals!" She snapped. "I thought a prince like you would know the legends."

* * *

Snow pulled up next to a small village.

"Okay, here's the plan." He yelled over the rain. "We're going to split up. I'm going to head towards Phoenix to see if Lightning's around there, and you head towards the crystal cave."

"Right." Vanille climbed off the bike. "Don't worry, I can run there. It's quicker. See you later!" Snow nodded and watched as Vanille ran into the jungle.

He hoped Vanille was the one who found her. The further away Lightning was from Phoenix, the better for her. He blamed himself, and he was sure Lightning did as well.

He _never_ should have brought her to Phoenix.

* * *

"Why do you want to kill me?" Noctis asked the woman, who was growing increasingly angry.

"I don't have a choice! Now will you _get away_ from the crystal!" She snapped.

"I don't see why I should." The Prince crossed his arms. Lightning scowled and pulled out her gunblade.

"Get away from it."

"It's not like you can do anything to stop me. You're a l'Cie, aren't you?" Noctis smiled as she dropped her hands to her side. "I thought so. Nothing but a slave-"

_**"SHUT UP!"**_ Lightning screamed, dropping the gunblade and clenching her fists. "I am not a slave!"

"Oh that's right," Noctis remembered something he'd read while learning about the crystals. "You prefer the word 'Servant', don't you?"

Before Noctis could react, Lightning had punched him in the face. He staggered backwards, rubbing his face

"Do not," She hissed. "_Ever_ call me a servant." The Prince paused before smirking.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before." He observed, keeping one eye on her fist. "If you had a choice then, would you kill me?"

"What kind of question is that?" Lightning frowned in confusion. "It really doesn't matter what I would do _if_ I had a choice, because I don't."

"It matters to me," Noctis explained with a small shrug. "Because it's the difference between you following orders begrudgingly or you being a psycho. So if you had a choice-"

"What I would do doesn't matter!" Lightning yelled, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the entire situation. She had never had such a messy mission before. They had ALL been clean kills, but this was getting more tangled by the day. "All that matters is here and now!" Noctis now frowned.

"Oh, so you shooting my friend doesn't matter?" The soldier seemed to deflate slightly.

"It was supposed to be a warning shot..." She muttered.

"Don't bother with those anymore, he got more than a decent warning from you." Silence fell in the cave for the first time Lightning had awoken. She bent down and picked up the gunblade, and placed it back in its holster.

"Is he okay?" She eventually asked.

"He's alive."

"That doesn't really answer my question." She snapped.

"I thought all that mattered was here and now."

"Will you STOP throwing things back in my face!?" Lightning bellowed, before sighing. "Look, I'm sorry I shot your friend. I was just trying to get rid of them."

"Why?" Noctis crossed his arms, watching her closely. He didn't trust her one bit.

"Innocent people shouldn't get hurt." His eyes turned blood red, as he became more agitated.

"And me?"

"You're just a target."

"So," The Prince attempted to understand Lightning's thought process. "I'm not even worthy of human being status?"

"It's easier that way." Lightning sounded like she was trying to convince him. "Cut yourself off from the target."

"The counsellor you murdered had a five year old son." Noctis said calmly. "Isn't he hurt?"

"Do you think I enjoy it?" Lightning glared at Noctis, her voice becoming quiet. "Killing? I take it you've killed people." He nodded slowly, wincing slightly at the memory. "Then you know that feeling as you fire the gun, slash the sword... it's the worse feeling in the world. The trail of blood, the fits as their body shuts down....." Lightning's voice trailed off. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't kill anyone."

"So here and now isn't all that matters?" Noctis asked out loud. Lightning glared at him.

"You are the most arrogant person I've ever met in my life!" She yelled. Noctis smirked, more relaxed after hearing Lightning's mini-speech. He looked at the crystal, alive and glowing with an almost blinding light.

"So, l'Cie-" He said after a few minutes, turning his head towards her.

"My name is Lightning."

"And I'm Noctis, not 'A target'." The two held each other's stare for a moment.

"Alright, _Noctis_." She said after a moment, empathising his name, a ghost of a smirk crossing her face.

"So, _Lightning_," He continued. "I think you should realise there is always a choice. For example, now I could kill you, hand you over to the authorities or let you go." Lightning didn't even blink, she instantly headed towards the exit. Noctis grabbed her arm, twisting it around so she was forced to look at him. "Guess what I'm choosing?"

"I have no idea." She muttered sarcastically, squirming in his grip.

Noctis let go of her arm.

"Now you do." He smiled slightly. Lightning blinked in surprise.

"You're... letting me go?" She frowned.

"On one condition." Noctis explained. "If you ever injure any of my friends or family again, I will kill you." Lightning nodded numbly, turning her back to him.

"... Please get out." She whispered after a while.

"Next time I see you," Noctis smiled, trying to make a joke out of the serious situation they were in. "Can you try not to kill me?"

"Just go." She repeated. The Prince nodded slightly, before turning and leaving the crystal cave.

There was no noise except the slight hum from the crystal. Lightning breathed out loudly.

"... I wish I could. I really wish..."

* * *

**Yes, I KNOW Cid should be an engineer, but I needed a name for my barman, and Cid suited him. So.**

**Yes, I put in a little shotgunXVanille. Sorry, but that pairings so cute, and I need a bit of sweetness in this story - Believe me, Noctis and Lightning aren't going to generate a lot!**

**Oh, and Liana: Short form of the Latin 'Eliana', meaning Sun.**

**And "You're in one of your sunshine moods." Is what I say to my friends when they're pissed off. I think the gang would say it to Noctis.**

**Also, updates may slow down slightly - This is as far as I've planned the story so far!**

**Still, enough of my random ramblings (Ooh, alliteration - My English teacher would be proud!), please review mo charas!**

**Peace out dudes and dudettes!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey chicas! How are you?**

**Awesome!**

**Me? I'm not so good, XD**

**Damn stomach infections. May have screwed up a few things in this chapter whilst proof-reading, so if you see any mistakes, let me know. Okay? Awesomeness.**

**Also, half of this chapter was meant to be the next chapter, but it was too short, so I kind of merged the two chapters together, XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FFXIII, or VersusXIII, or Fabula Nova Crystallis. Or Square Enix. Or - Yeah, you get the picture. I don't own anything.**

**I'm also going to ask you to please please PLEASE vote on the poll on my profile about what sort of ending you want for Fire Escape. Merci beaucoup.**

**In addition, I'm going to ask for reviews now (PLEASE REVIEW!!!)... 'cause I don't want to wreck the end of this chapter with my random ramblings at the end.**

**Mwa ha ha.**

**Christ. Anywhoo.... oh there was something else!**

**AHA!**

**Yeah, I love you guys! And good luck for anyone who has exams at the moment!**

**Peace out!**

**SunflowerWielder**

* * *

Lightning sat crossed-legged on the ground of the crystal cave.

She had far too much to think about.

Noctis, Snow, Vanille, the Crystal, Phoenix, and of course, the dream.

Her dream was the crystal's doing, she knew that, but it still scared her. The crystal was delving into her past, which she had locked away.

It couldn't come back.

It _mustn't_ come back.

"Lightning?" The soldier turned around to see Vanille running into the cave. "I was looking for you!"

"Good job." She muttered sarcastically. The pig-tailed girl smiled and sat down next to her.

"What'cha doing?"

"Thinking."

"About...?"

"None of your business Vanille." Lightning shut her eyes and sighed. "It's none of your business." Vanille sighed and shook her head.

"Snow's freaking out."

"As usual."

"He told us about you trying to..." Vanille trailed off, letting Lightning fill in the gaps for herself.

"He told you about – _that_?" Lightning sounded confused, turning and frowning at Vanille.

"Uh-huh. Sazh asked why you were arguing and Snow told us about _that_." Vanille had the feeling she didn't like the word.

"I'm going to kill him." Lightning whispered.

"But Light-"

"I _don't_ want to hear it!" She stood up, marching towards the exit of the cave.

"Lightning, wait!" Vanille stumbled upright and ran after her. "Wait, you can't go! He's gone to look for you at Phoenix, you can't go back there!"

"Where else am I supposed to go?" Lightning spun around and glared at her. "I haven't got anywhere else to go!"

"You..." Vanille shrugged. "You could run away!"

"No." The soldier turned around to leave the cave.

"You've done it before!" Vanille protested, running alongside the soldier.

"And that's why I'm never going to do it again! It doesn't solve anything, it just makes it worse!"

"When they get their claws on you, they're going to kill you Light!" Vanille stepped around Lightning and blocked the cave's opening. "You can't go back there."

"Vanille, get out of my way." Lightning snapped.

"No."

"I said to get out of my way."

"And I said no!" Vanille shook her head, pigtails swinging around. "Running is sometimes the ONLY thing to do Lightning! You can't go back!"

"Get out of my way now." Lightning repeated, making a fist. Vanille noticed this.

"What? You're going to hit me, like you did to Snow?" Vanille stared at Lightning, who blinked in surprise.

"No. No, I'm not!" Lightning shook her head. "I'm not going to hit you, just get out of my way!"

"And if I don't?" Vanille glared at Lightning. "I'm not letting you go back!"

"'Letting me'? You can't stop me from doing anything Vanille!" The soldier pushed past Vanille and ran out of the cave. The girl sighed and began to run after her.

* * *

Noctis frowned, coming to the conclusion that he was lost. He should have paid more attention when coming through the forest.

Now, in the aftermath of the adrenaline, he had forgotten how he had gotten to the cave.

"Damn it." He muttered, looking around what seemed like an endless maze of green. "How the hell do they find their way around?"

_There has to be something... A landmark or something. Something distinguishing... But what?_

Noctis rubbed his head and sighed. This was just too confusing.

Why the hell had he let Lightning go? It made no sense – Why couldn't he have killed her? He should have, but...

It was the crystal, he told himself. Just the crystal. He couldn't have killed in front of the crystal – That would have been like spitting in the face of Goddess Etro.

He smiled slightly, reassuring himself. And if he did ever see her again, it would be the end. He had given her enough chances.

Hadn't he?

A cracking noise caught his attention. Summoning _Somnus_, he spun around to face Lexus.

"Damn it Noct!" He yelled, stepping backwards. "Don't do that to us! PLACIDO!!! FOUND HIM!!!"

"Good!" Placido appeared from behind Lexus, wiping his glasses. "Stupid bugs."

"Where the hell did you go?" Lexus asked as Placido pushed his glasses back on. "What did you mean, 'I know what I'm doing'?"

"I..." Noctis stopped himself. He didn't want them to know what had happened. They may think he didn't care enough about Felix to get rid of her. He _did_ care about Felix, it just... when he started talking to her, it became harder to get rid of her. Maybe that was what she had meant. Cut yourself off. It made sense. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it bloody well matters!" Placido suddenly yelled, causing the other two to stare at him. "Uh..." He scratched his head. "Well, you fell unconscious, had a bad dream apparently when you were out and then wake up and run off!"

"Bad dream?" Noctis furrowed his brow.

"You were yelling in your sleep." Lexus explained. "You said you knew where she was."

"Oh." The Prince scowled. Even his dreams weren't private. He _hated_ being a prince, he had no privacy. Everything came out in the end.

"Well?" Placido asked.

"It's really none of your business." Noctis snapped, feeling a surge of annoyance run through him.

"Noct-"

"I said it was none of your business!" Noctis yelled. "Clear?" And with that rare show of anger at his friends, the Prince stormed back in the direction they had come from.

* * *

Lightning slipped through the doors of Phoenix, keeping her head down and not looking anyone in the eye. She caught a glimpse of Phobos though, smirking away as if he'd gotten the greatest prize in the world.

Everyone was terrified of Phobos. Even though there was no such official position, Phobos was second in command of Phoenix, and the most ruthless, sadistic member.

_Maybe this was a bad idea..._

Lightning shut her eyes and shook the thought from her head.

Phoenix was her home. It was all she had left.

She'd end up on the streets again if she ran. And last time she was on the streets she had...

She pulled herself out of her reverie, and headed towards her quarters.

As she opened the door, she heard a man yell.

"Lightning!" Snow stared at her. "What the hell are you doing back here?! Have you lost it!?"

Lightning felt her anger rise up inside her.

"How dare you tell Sazh and Vanille about – THAT! How dare you!?" Lightning yelled, slamming the door shut.

"What was I supposed to tell them?!"

"You didn't have to tell them anything!" She hissed.

"Why are you here?" Snow asked, shaking his head. "I told Vanille to keep you away from here-"

"Neither you or Vanille can stop me from doing anything."

"Sadly, I think that's true. Damn it Lightning, what the hell's wrong with you lately?" He snapped. "You can't assassinate this bloke, you've been acting even edgier than usual – We're not stupid. What happened?" He asked. Lightning sighed and leant against the wall.

"I......" Her voice faltered. "I... it was an accident."

"What was?" Snow didn't look angry anymore, just confused and caring.

"I....... Oh God Snow, I kissed him, and I got to know him – I can't kill him now Snow – What the hell am I going to do?!"

* * *

Felix watched as the nurse continued to worry and witter.

_Go away! Leave, away, go, vanish!_

He thought, as she insisted on rechecking all of his drips.

"I'm fine, thank you." He repeated for the tenth time. This finally sank in with the nurse, and she nodded.

"Okay. Just rest."

"Of course!" Felix grinned and waited until she had left the room. He paused, before climbing out of bed, removing his drips (wincing as he did so), grabbing his normal clothes resting on a chair, and walking out of the room. He turned and took his bag containing his shotgun from an elderly patient.

"Thanks Carl, good luck with the gallbladder!" He grinned, gave the man some gil, and headed towards the nearest toilet.

He had to catch up with the others before they did something incredibly stupid.

* * *

A man smiled, satisfied, and leant back in his chair.

He had everything he needed.

He was completely prepared.

* * *

Snow shut the door behind him and sighed deeply, holding his head in one hand.

That had been quite a revelation from Lightning.

Some time, far, far into the future, he might look back at this and laugh. Lightning had always stressed the importance of not getting to know a target – And look what she had done.

He wished he could laugh at the irony of it now – But he had to find Vanille and Sazh, and sort out this mess before it got any worse. Although it was hard to see how that could happen.

This was something Phoenix could easily kill her for. The only thing he could think of doing was heading back to Tenebrea and killing the Prince himself. He'd have to steal Lightning's weapon though, and take her with him so it would look like she had done the assassination, the amount of planning could take days.

Snow rubbed his head and growled slightly. Why the hell had he taken her here? He should have left her at the hospital, but _no_...

"You okay Snow?" Gadot shoved his head around the corner. "Crap day huh?"

"You could say that..." Snow sighed. "What do you want?"

"You're in a bad mood. This probably won't make it any better..." The red-head shrugged. "Message from the higher ups. You're wanted at an emergency meeting, now."

"Oh great." Snow cursed and headed down the corridor. A meeting with the higher ups was the last thing his extremely frayed nerves wanted right now.

* * *

Several hours later, Noctis, Placido and Lexus were sitting in the quiet pub, not really talking to each other. An occasional question might get asked, answered with a few short words, but that was it.

Placido and Lexus were confused by Noctis' outburst earlier, while Noctis was trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened that day. Cid was cleaning glasses and wondering if he could find a place for the three men to stay that night.

The door suddenly slammed open. The three men ignored it, as Cid looked up.

"Yes! That drunk guy was right!" The group turned in unison and stared at their missing, absolutely drenched with rainwater companion.

"Felix?!" Noctis yelled, standing upright. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Nice to see you too Noct!" Felix laughed at his friends faces. "Oh man. I'm going to get a spanking now, aren't I?"

"You were _supposed_ to stay in the hospital." Placido stated calmly. Felix shrugged.

"It was boring. So I snuck out, with Carl's help."

"Who the hell is Carl?" Lexus asked.

"An elderly patient with gallstones."

"Oh lovely!" Cid said sarcastically. "No discussion of gallstones in my pub, I've got a dodgy stomach today."

"..... I like you already!" Felix grinned at the barkeeper as he wrung out his hair, before turning back to his friends. "So, what's been happening?"

"Nothing." Noctis sat back down, pulling a stool out for Felix to sit on.

"Liar," Lexus shook his head. "SOMETHING happened to you Noctis, so will you just tell us what it is?"

"It's none of your business." Noctis replied.

"Tell all, or..." Felix paused. "I'll tear my stitches out!" The group stared at Felix yet again. "You know I can and will! All I need are some scissors!"

"No bleeding on my floor!" Cid yelled over at them. "I've had to scrape him off it, mop off the mess that woman made on it when she spilt her drinks..."

"Fine!" Noctis sighed. "I met up with Lightning again..." He paused and breathed out.

"And?" Lexus leant forwards, along with Placido and Felix.

"... I talked to her." He explained. "Just for a little while. She seemed... upset I guess. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill her. Sorry." He added. Felix rolled his eyes.

"You're sorry? For what? Not killing her? Last time I checked, that was a good thing!"

"So what now?" Placido asked. "Do we stay here? Head back to Tenebrea?"

"I don't know..." Noctis held his head in his hands and sighed, resting his elbows on the bar. The humidity made his head pound.

"This place," Cid suddenly said. "Is in the middle of a rainstorm. You kids haven't been here before, so let me give you some advice: You try driving back in that weather," He pointed to the window, which the rain was slamming against. "You aren't going to make it back to Tenebrea."

"Looks like our decision has been made for us." Lexus shrugged.

"I'm thiiiiiiiiiirsty." Felix complained. Placido sighed.

"Fine, but you're not having any alcohol. I'm pretty sure painkillers and alcohol don't mix well."

Noctis smiled weakly as his friends argued about whether they were sleeping in the car again (Placido was very much against this), and watched the rain pelt down the window.

_Strange..._

He frowned.

_The crystal... I can sense it._

_It's..._

_Scared? Angry?_

_No, it's worried... about Lightning?_

_Something's wrong. Doesn't matter, it's none of my business._

_...............Then why can't I brush it off?_

_And why am I worried about her?_

* * *

Lightning was drained, physically and emotionally.

Vanille had caught up with her, and was doing a good job of ignoring Lightning's red rimmed eyes.

She was also trying to cheer Lightning up, by making Phoenix, Noctis and the crystals a taboo subject.

Lightning wasn't really paying attention to Vanille, letting her talk go in one ear and out the other. Even though Phoenix, Noctis and the crystals were forbidden subjects out loud, they ran rampant in her head.

_If Phoenix find out, I'm going to get killed. So it's kill or be killed._

_But I can't kill Noctis. I know him too well now. It's too late._

_I'm going to die._

"Light!" Lightning blinked at Vanille, who was rolling her eyes. "Finally! You've just been staring off into space for the past five minutes!"

"Sorry." Lightning sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Just thinking..."

"About the taboo?"

"Yeah. I know you think I shouldn't think about them Vanille, but it's kind of hard to keep your mind off something like this." Lightning sat up and popped her knuckles. Vanille winced.

"Lightning! You know I hate that!" She squeaked, pulling a cushion over her head.

"Oh. Sorry." Lightning shrugged, deadbeat. Vanille sighed and pulled the soldier into a hug. Lightning said nothing.

"If the worse comes to the worst, I'll get you out of here. I promise." Vanille muttered. Lightning snorted. "I will! I swear!"

"I don't want you involved, okay?" The older woman wriggled out of the hug. "You've got enough people on your ass without me adding any more to that list."

"What? The crystal hunters?" Vanille laughed. "That was years ago! I could take them down now!"

"If you say so." Lightning bit her nails.

"Bad habit." Vanille reprimanded, turning to look out of the window. "It's dusk already? Damn it. I gotta run, sort out a few things – I'll be back soon though, okay?"

"Sure Vanille." Lightning attempted a weak smile. "I'll be fine." Vanille stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

She breathed out and leant against the door for a moment.

"I will do it." She whispered. "I'm going to get you out of here."

* * *

"Felix, get your foot away from my face NOW!" Placido yelled. "When was the last time you washed?!"

"I was busy sneaking out of the hospital, I didn't have time to wash!" The man protested, lifting his feet off the dashboard.

"I know, you can smell it." Lexus yelled. Felix turned around, leant over and pinched the back of his neck. "NO! Damn it Felix! Stop!"

"I love that move." The blonde smiled satisfied, before releasing Lexus' neck. "Did that hurt?"

"Yeah it did, you dumb blonde!"

"DUMB BLONDE?!"

"Can you guys shut up?" Noctis asked. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"I told you it was a bad idea to sleep in the car."

"Shut UP Placido." The other three men said in unison. The car fell silent once more.

"You're still pissy Noct."

"Felix, shut up and go to sleep before I come up there." Noctis muttered, leaning against the car window, which was cool against his forehead.

Time passed. His friends had fallen asleep before him for once; he could hear Felix's snores.

Noctis turned so he could see the moon, the only source of light in the night sky.

He grimaced, cursing Pulse's humidity. He couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had been following him around.

"Good luck Lightning..." He whispered under his breath as he fell asleep.

* * *

"Hey Light." Snow shoved his head around the door.

"They're going to find out soon, aren't they?" The woman asked. Snow had never seen her like this before. She looked crumpled, like someone had stood on her. Her head was lowered, hands resting awkwardly in her lap, sitting on the edge of her bed. He felt ill.

"Yeah."

"Hmph." She flopped backwards, lying on her back. "So... stay and fight, right? Die with dignity."

"That doesn't exist." Snow sighed, and sat next to her. "Our bodies break down. We've seen it Lightning, and you and I both know that dying with dignity doesn't exist. It's just a myth."

"Way to cheer me up." She grumbled, placing both hands over her face. "I'd rather die fighting than die running." There was a long silence. Minutes passed between the two friends.

"Lightning....." Snow's voice trailed off. "I'm sorry." Lightning frowned and removed her hands from her face.

The next thing she knew, a pillow had been shoved into her face. It was pushed down hard over her nose and mouth before she could react. She arched her back in an attempt to free herself, but Snow pushed his knee into her stomach, leaning on her with all his weight.

"I'm sorry Light." He whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Lightning wanted to scream at him, but there was no air left in her lungs. She felt around the bed, desperate to find some kind of weapon, but her hand only found cloth.

_Snow... you bastard! I thought I could __**trust**__ you! You shit face, son-of-a-bitch..._

Her concentration drifted, alerting her to the fact she was losing consciousness. She bit her tongue, using the pain to focus her mind.

Lightning kicked her legs up, aiming for Snow's head. He ducked, and her feet dug into his shoulders instead. He jolted forwards, causing him to push the pillow down harder.

"Light, it's this or Phobos. You _know_ what he'd do." Snow pleaded, his voice becoming more broken as he spoke. "He'd torture you first, or worse... he'd... he'd...... Please... I don't want you to suffer!"

Lightning felt tears stream down her face for the first time in years. She had trusted Snow... let him into the shield she had built around herself... and now...

Her thoughts were running from her. She felt like she was being spun around, although she was still trapped under the pillow. Her lungs were on fire.

_This is how it ends... not with a bang, but with a whimper._

The old quote from a story she couldn't remember floated into her mind, before vanishing back into the depths.

How we are going to die is a question that haunts the back of our minds since we are able to comprehend what death is.

In the last few seconds before her breathing stopped, Lightning knew the answer to that question.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is a reeaaally short chapter - Well, by my standards. I dunno about other's standards, XD**

**Anywhoo, WHOA WHAT'D I JUST PRESS?!**

**Sorry.**

**Anyway, this'll be my last chapter for a bit, because I'm going to Ireland for two weeks for work experience (in a vet's! How awesome is that?!)**

**A lot of this chapter was rushed, and it's not fantastic, but I needed this out there before I left for Ireland!**

**And this chapter may not be medically accurate - I never paid attention to first aid in the guides, I just messed about with bandages. In my defence... it is a fantasy world, so their medical stuff may be different to ours...**

**I'm going to shut up now.**_Snow pulled the pillow away from Lightning's face._

* * *

_She'd stopped moving, stopped struggling. She'd stopped breathing._

_The pillow slipped out of his hands as his mind fell into freefall._

_She was dead._

_He'd killed her._

"_Hey guys," Vanille opened the door, smiling as usual. "I was just..." She trailed off as she saw Lightning, her smile vanishing. In a flash she was next to Lightning, her hand on her neck, looking for breathing, a heartbeat._

"_What have you done Snow!?" Vanille screamed, anger flashing into her normally cheerful eyes. "What the hell have you done!?"_

* * *

You have one new message:

"Felix? You may not remember me... It's Vanille. From the hospital? I know you're in Pulse. I need some help, and I don't know who else to ask. If you can, meet me in sector 3 of the forest. It's not hard to find. Thanks. And... Never mind."

* * *

Snow fidgeted in front of the higher ups of Phoenix.

"The removal was a success?" The leader asked.

"Yes." He nodded slowly, feeling his eyes start to water, both because of the dark and the subject matter.

"You suffocated her?"

"Yes." Snow focused his attention on the ground, feeling a weight in his chest. He hated the higher ups right now, more than he hated anyone on earth.

"And you disposed of the body correctly?"

"Yes."

"Good." The leader remained silent for a moment. "It appears you have proven your loyalty to us Snow."

"Yeah." Snow breathed out slowly. "Thank you."

"You may leave." The leader nodded approvingly, as Snow exited the room.

He blinked as he shut the door behind him, his eyes adjusting to the light.

"Oh God..." He muttered quietly, realising he'd never be able to complain to Lightning about the higher ups. He'd never be able to talk to her again, yell at her, fight with her, have fun with her.

His best friend. Gone.

Snow leant against the wall. He'd killed her. Because he was just so scared, stupidly just trying to survive.

It was all his fault.

He breathed in deeply and sighed.

Phoenix had made him into a mindless killer, and he hadn't even noticed.

"Got to get out of this stupid, stupid place." He whispered, before pushing himself off the wall and walking away.

* * *

"So we're traipsing about Pulse to meet up with some woman who met you in the hospital and phoned for some help?" Lexus asked, as Placido drove through Pulse.

"Yeah." Felix nodded, earning a slight glare from Noctis. "Look, she might know something about Phoenix and all that. She might give us a hand, she's really nice."

"I met a woman who you said was really nice once." Placido commented mildly. "She mugged me."

"She was drunk when I met her! How was I supposed to know she was a criminal when she was sober?"

"Was this one drunk?"

"Nope." Felix smiled happily.

"She better not have been." Noctis leant against the seat and watched the forest fly past the window.

Arminius watched as the troops landed on Pulse, a small smile playing at his lips.

"Captain." He nodded to one of the younger captains, who hurried over.

"Sir." He saluted the elder man.

"I want you to take some troops and find the Prince and his associates. If you have any trouble from the natives, feel free to kill them. They shan't be missed."

The car pulled up at the border of sector three. The group clambered out, arguing as they went.

"People don't just wander into hospitals to visit people who have been shot!" Lexus explained as they headed into the depths of the forest. "She must have had a reason."

"Yeah, I know that! I just don't know what the reason was..." Felix shrugged and grinned. "Well, maybe we'll find out. _VANILLE!!"_ The group winced as Felix hollered her name.

After a moment, a pig-tailed woman ran out from behind a cluster of trees.

"You're here!" She smiled, genuinely pleased. "I didn't think you'd come..." She gave Felix a quick hug, making Noctis and the group exchange glances. Felix went pink.

"Uh... So," Felix asked, glaring at each of his friends in turn. "What's up?"

Vanille pulled away and looked down at the ground.

"Okay...." She bit her lip. "I... kind of have a confession."

"Which is?" Noctis asked. Vanille blinked up in confusion.

"Oh yeah, Vanille, these are my friends, Noctis, Lexus and Placido."

"Noctis?!" The girl stared. "... Oh.... right.... damn."

"What?" Felix smiled at her. Vanille bit her lip even harder.

"I... er.... You mustn't be mad." She sighed. "I...."

"Spit it out." Noctis muttered. Vanille sighed and jerked her head back to where she came from.

"This way." And with that, she ran back into the forest, followed by the group.

Vanille scuffed her feet against the ground as she ran, talking at the same time.

"You see, I knew you'd been shot, and I wanted to check you were okay! So I did. But I didn't find out through the news or anything..." She stopped to duck under a bush. "Through here."

The group ducked through the bush, and entered a small clearing.

Noctis stopped dead, making Felix walk into him.

Lightning was lying incredibly still in the middle of the clearing.

Felix swore behind him.

"... That's how I found out." Vanille explained quietly. "Lightning's my friend."

"What happened to her?" Placido was the first one to ask. "I mean... is she okay?"

"Hmph," She scowled and crossed her arms. "I presume you know about Phoenix? Well, they ordered her to kill you. But she didn't. So they labelled her as past her use for them, and ordered she was... 'Disposed of'."

"You mean killed?" Noctis asked, looking carefully at Lightning.

"Yeah. I mean killed."

* * *

_Vanille felt like she was going to scream._

_Damn it, she had been planning to get Lightning out of here, but it was too little too late._

_Snow was just staring at their lifeless friend, as if he couldn't understand what had happened._

_Maybe he couldn't._

_Flashes of the white magic course Vanille had taken flashed into her mind. Quickly she leant forwards and pushed down on Lightning's chest, counting the number in her head._

_Nothing._

_Pushing aside the panic and discomfort gnawing away at her, Vanille opened Lightning's mouth and breathed into it._

_This was wrong._

_She wasn't supposed to be the one looking after Lightning, and yet here she was, trying to save her._

_Vanille frowned and breathed again. She was going to kill Snow._

_Suddenly Lightning gasped loudly, coughing madly. Vanille leapt off the bed, remembering that CPR caused people to throw up._

_Which Lightning did._

_Snow breathed out, as if he'd been holding it in all this time._

_Vanille quickly knelt back on the bed, yelling at Lightning._

_The woman muttered something before her eyes flickered shut. Vanille frowned._

"_That's it." She hissed. "I am getting her out of here, now."_

"_I'm sorry." Snow whispered. The pigtailed girl glared at him through her tears._

"_Why Snow?" Vanille yelled at him, tears falling down her face. "Why the hell did you do that?!"_

"_I was scared Vanille." He protested. Vanille scoffed. "Listen to me! You're not a member of Phoenix, you don't understand! Either I killed her, or Phobos would. You know as well as I do what he'd do."_

"_So you're an angel." The pigtailed girl glared at him. "Just get out. I'll sort this Snow, it's no concern of yours."_

"_Vanille, I-"_

"_Get out!" Vanille glared at Snow, who sighed deeply._

"_Let me know if you need any help."_

"_You've helped enough." Her voice became choked. "Just get out." Snow left the room, and breathed out deeply._

_He'd just lost two of his best friends._

* * *

Silence fell as Vanille finished her story.

"Sorry." She added in a whisper, looking at Felix.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, a frown appearing on his face.

"I... I just..." Vanille paused. "I didn't want you to hate me. I wanted to get to know you a bit."

"....Hm." Felix mused in his head. "...Okay.... I kind of get that... just don't expect me to be best buddies with her."

"Okay!" Vanille cheered up considerably, her smile reappearing.

"He always forgives the cute ones..." Lexus whispered to Placido. Felix punched him hard on the arm.

"Why do you need our help?" Placido asked, ignoring the fight that was beginning behind him.

"Well, I need to get Lightning to the crystal cave. And I was kind of expecting her to be conscious when I was getting her away. So, basically, I need to get her to the crystal cave." Vanille bit her lip. "But I can't, because she's surprisingly heavy."

"So you want us to help her?" Noctis asked, frowning. The pigtailed girl sighed.

"I know, it's weird because she tried to kill you, and you tried to kill her, and then she shot you and everything, but... She couldn't kill you. That's _why_ this has happened-"

"So you're blaming me?"

"... You're very touchy." Vanille summarized. "Please. We won't bother you again. I swear."

"...." The group exchanged glances.

"...Alright." Noctis eventually said. "It's insane, but we'll do it."

* * *

Snow sat silently in Lightning's room. Vanille had cleaned things up well.

It wouldn't be long before a new member took this room, blissfully unaware of what had almost occurred.

No, it had occurred. He had killed her.

She just hadn't stayed dead.

But by the time that new member came, he hoped to God he'd be out of here.

* * *

_This may be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever done._

_I am smuggling a wanted assassin and her friend who is apparently interested in my friend, who the assassin shot, across a country where they are both being hunted._

_Still, it's too late now._

_The crystal's pleased I think. It's less worried now._

_She actually looks rather peaceful._

_I feel rather sorry for her._

_.... Or...._

_No._

_That's stupid._

_I just feel sorry for her. Nothing else._**I apologize for the crapiness.**

* * *

**I'm gonna miss you guys when I'm in Ireland! But just because I'm not in the country, it's no reason not to review!!**

**So review mo charas!!**

**Peace out!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Bonjour mon amies!**

**I hope you are all happy and cheery and whatnot! Thanks for all the well wishes for Ireland, it went well.**

**This chapter is short for two reasons - One: Because it is!**

**Two: I'm really, really, really, really ill right now. Like... supremely ill.**

**Still, I battle on and bring you, not a particually brilliant chapter, but still a chapter!**

**OH yeah, if, for whatever reason, people are reading this story in months/years to come (Who knows why you would) and going "What?! That's not how this character acts!" "That's not how this happens!" - This was written before either game came out. Why? Because I'm STUPID, that's why!**

* * *

"I've told you all I can." Vanille kept her eyes on Lightning's hands, which she said she was checking for cyanosis.

"And yet you've told us nothing about either of you two." Noctis stated, watching both women carefully.

"Can't. Light'd kill me." She explained. "She doesn't like talking about herself. And if I told YOU something about me, she'd throttle me. She's odd like that."

"So she's violent? Very violent?" Lexus asked.

"No shit Sherlock." Felix rolled his eyes, poking at his stitches.

"You shouldn't do that." Vanille said calmly. "Picking your stitches, gonna screw them up."

"Are you ALL mother hens?" The blonde asked, throwing his arms up in the air.

"I am not a hen Felix!" Vanille protested. Seconds later, the car drove into a pothole.

"Ow!"

"Damn it Placido!"

"Sorry. You can't really see them." He explained, frowning as he concentrated on the steering wheel.

Vanille was biting her nails anxiously. Noctis noticed her checking on Lightning frequently. Clearly they were close friends. As close as he was to his friends, he decided, cheering up slightly. The idea of someone being completely on their own wasn't a pleasant one.

* * *

Sazh poked his head up through the trees. Hina poked her head up through his afro at the same time and warked.

"Shush..." He whispered. He watched the Tenebrea soldiers guarding the border. He had never seen this before. Border's were there, but unguarded... until now.

He sighed slightly and looked around.

There had to be a break somewhere. He had to get back to Pulse, to his friends and family. He didn't have a choice.

Hina warked somewhat nervously in his afro. Sazh breathed out, stood up and ducked in and out of the trees. He spoke in a quiet whisper.

"I've got promises to keep."

* * *

The first thing Lightning realised was that she was alive, which was a surprise. The second was that her head was pounding. The third was that she was in a car, judging by the engine noise.

People were talking, arguing about something... She couldn't make out the voices properly, but one sounded a lot like Vanille.

Her eyes flickered open.

She was in the back seat of a car, Vanille was next to her, arguing with someone about hens, and on the other side was... Noctis?

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Lighting yelled, managing to get the attention of every single person in the car.

"Hi Lightning!" Vanille smiled. "How are you? Do you need a hand-?"

"What is going on?!" Lightning snapped, sitting upright. "Let me out." She ordered. Vanille shook her head.

"Nope-" Vanille began before getting cut off.

"I said to let me out." The icy edge in Lightning's voice got louder and clearer. "_Now_."

"Lightning-"

"I said to let me OUT!" Lightning sat up right, reaching for where her gunblade should have been. A hand grabbed her arm and twisted it, making her slam back into her seat. She glared at Noctis.

"Lightning, please listen to me!" Vanille yelled over the various curses as Placido drove into another pothole. "Ow. Anyway, I had to get you out of there!" She explained, ignoring the glare she was receiving from the soldier. "Do you even remember what happened?"

Lightning frowned slightly. She could vaguely remember feeling dizzy and angry... almost upset. Her frown deepened. She'd been betrayed – Snow.

Without realising it, her hand formed into a fist and she punched the seat.

"Watch it!" A couple of voices yelled, as the hand on her arm tightened its grip.

"Snow." She hissed angrily. "That bastard, I swear to God-"

"Light, chill." Vanille said calmly. "Listen, I got you out of Phoenix headquarters, all we've got to do is get to the crystal cave. We can make plans there, but you're still recovering, and this is the fastest way to get to the cave. Please, can you just stay calm for a little while?"

"No." The soldier scowled. "I don't trust other people – And I've got a damn good reason not to." She added bitterly.

"You may not realise this, but you were dead Light." The younger woman said quietly. "You were actually dead for almost a minute. You need to rest. Please, get some sleep; you won't even know that there are other people around then."

Lightning said nothing. She looked out of the window over Vanille's shoulder, the plains of Pulse racing past.

She was tired. Some sleep might help... But this was getting more warped by the second. She held her head in her free hand, and looked at Vanille, who had a pleading look on her face.

"Fine." She grumbled, leaning back in her seat. "Fine, fine, bloody fine."

Vanille suppressed a grin and turned to look out of the window. Lightning breathed out quietly as gravity turned against her and started to pull her eyelids down. Just as her eyes started to shut, she noticed the hand was still gripping her arm tightly.

_You don't trust me Noctis? Smart man. I wouldn't trust me either._

* * *

In the centre of Phoenix, a discussion was taking place.

"You still do not trust him." The leader stated calmly. Phobos nodded, his eyes barely hiding a wicked gleam.

"Indeed I do not." He said.

"Hm." The leader frowned slightly, his face still hidden in the shadows. "He followed the orders though. To dispose of Lightning."

"Yes sir," Phobos hid the tone of exasperation. "Indeed he did. But I was suspicious of her too, remember? That is why I placed the bug in her room, and we found out she was indeed a traitor." Phobos yet again managed to hide his snarl.

"Hm." The leader seemed lost in thought. Phobos was about to leave when the leader spoke up. "Keep a careful eye on him. Report any findings to me."

"Sir!" A young officer ran in through the doors. "Sir, I apologise for interrupting sir, but we have news you may need to hear."

* * *

Snow stared out of the window, listening to Lebreau.

"I know it's hard." She said quietly. "But Snow, you have to move on, you have to let her go."

Snow shrugged.

"Come on Snow!" Maqui said loudly. "We know you miss her and all, but you've got to try and move on."

"Easier said than done." Snow said with a sigh. Even though Lightning was – most likely – still alive, the chance of him seeing her again was practically non-existent.

He missed her. And Vanille. He'd lost both of his best friends in one day, one stupid decision.

He still had Lebreau, Gadot and Maqui though. That was some comfort. He wasn't on his own, even though it felt like it. Speaking of which...

"Where's Gadot?"

"Poor sucker's got radio duty." Lebreau said, a smug smile appearing on her face. Snow smiled slightly, radio duty was the most mind numbing thing anyone could possibly imagine.

"I almost feel sorry for him."

"He deserved it," Lebreau grinned. "What the hell was he doing at one o'clock in the morning with a shopping trolley?"

"Heh." Snow laughed without any real humour. He tried to focus on something else – The training routine for Team Nora tomorrow, the sub-group he commanded. They needed some target practise, they hadn't done much since the mission in Tenebrea –

_Out, get it out of your head._

Snow hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Snow?" Lebreau asked in a gentle, concerned voice.

"Uh... Migraine."

"Uh-huh." She shot him a disbelieving look, as Gadot walked through the door. "How was radio duty? Boring as hell?" Gadot shook his head, sitting down with a sigh.

"Sadly, no."

* * *

The car skidded to an undignified halt outside the cliff leading to the crystal cave.

Lightning woke up with a start in the back of the car as everyone got throw forwards.

"Smooth stop mate." Lexus said sarcastically.

"Shut up. It's the mud."

"Sure Placido. The mud. Always the feckin' mud."

"You okay there Light?" Vanille asked, looking over at the other woman. Lightning nodded, somewhat relieved Noctis had let go, even if he had left a bruise on her arm. She'd deal with that later.

The group climbed out of the car. Lightning was relieved to be out of the stuffiness of the car, and had a feeling Vanille felt the same.

"Where the hell is this cave?" Felix asked, swinging his shotgun over his shoulder. Lightning pointedly didn't look at him – She had enough issues on her plate without bringing guilt into the equation.

"Up there." Noctis pointed to the cliff.

"How the hell are you supposed to get up there?!"

"None of your business." Lightning snapped, leaning against the front of the car. She blinked a few times to get rid of the sleep in her eyes.

"She's got the same sunshine moods as you Noct!"

"Felix...." The Prince growled slightly.

"Sorry, just saying." The blonde haired man shrugged as Vanille's phone started ringing. There was a pause.

"Should I answer it?" Vanille asked Lightning.

"It's your phone." The woman shrugged and frowned slightly, her hand trying to subtly locate her gunblade. Vanille noticed.

"It's in the car. You and that were just too heavy to drag – Carry." She quickly corrected, pulling out her phone to answer it.

Lightning rolled her eyes and shoved her head back into the car. Her gunblade was resting on the floor. With a small, hidden smile, she picked it up and placed it back in its holster, feeling more comfortable because of it.

"Oh, it's you." Vanille's voice got everyone's attention, because of its unusual tone of bitterness. "I thought I told you to leave us be Snow!"

Lightning scowled and stepped away from the car, listening to Vanille's side of the conversation.

"I don't care what you have to say Snow, just leave us alone! No just leave us al-" The pigtailed woman stopped. She stayed quiet for a minute. "Oh my..." After another minutes she ended the call and started crying.

"What's wrong?" Felix asked, walking over to Vanille and wrapping an arm around her, which Lightning noticed instantly.

"Sazh... Sazh got shot down at the border!" Vanille wailed. Lightning froze.

"Friend of yours?" Lexus asked. Vanille cried harder.

Lightning shook her head slowly.

_Sazh... but... he... shit. He had a family... a wife.... kids.... All because of this stupid war – It's my fault._

"Lightning?"

She ran.

* * *

The soldiers sent by Arminius were fed up and tired of the jungle area of Pulse, which was thick and hard to get through.

They were also getting fed up with the locals, who were particularly tight-lipped. One of the soldiers finally lost his patience, and fired his gun into the air several time. Everyone looked around in a mixture of slight panic and annoyance.

"One last time!" He snapped. "We are looking for a group of men, who are from our country. It is important for _everyone's _safety that we find them. They are highly dangerous." He added. They'd been feeding this line to anyone they had met, as advised by Arminius.

"If you have any information, it is _imperative _you tell us." Another soldier added.

"Hm." A young boy smiled, a mischievous look on his face. "If they're THAT powerful, then maybe you should look for the crystal cave."

The soldiers exchanged looks.

_Crystal cave... Prince... Close fit._

"And where," One of the soldiers asked, leaning forwards. "Would this crystal cave be?"

* * *

Lightning threw another stone at a nearby tree.

"Stupid bastards!" She snapped, throwing yet another stone, making a chunk of bark fly off the tree. "Bloody stupid ARGH!" She threw another one.

There was a slight cracking noise behind her.

Lightning spun around to meet Noctis.

"You okay?" He asked calmly. The soldier clenched her fists.

"No! I am NOT okay you _arrogant bastard_!!" She shouted. "_You_! _You_ and _your_ damn kingdom! _Your_ bloody trigger happy soldiers, he'd never harm anyone! He has - had a family! And _your_ soldiers shot him dead!!"

"Lightning." The Prince held both hands up as if surrendering. "Lightning, listen hit me." Lightning blinked in confusion and looked at him.

Her mind went back to when she joined Phoenix, how people used their hands as targets.

Lightning punched his hands repeatedly, feeling relief at letting the anger escape her for a while. She noticed how Noctis didn't even flinch, no matter how hard she punched him. So she punched harder.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but her knuckles hurt and the palms of Noctis' hands were red.

With a final, hard punch, she sat down.

"Better?" He asked quietly, rubbing his hands.

"No." She breathed out. It was a slight lie, she wasn't as angry as before. But she was still so annoyed. "He was the best out of all of us. I mean, in Phoenix." She wasn't sure if she was actually talking to Noctis or not. "He had a family... kids that loved him. Shit. What kind of life are they going to have, all because of _you_ and _your_ bloody soldiers!?"

"I don't have any control over the army." Noctis shot back. "Not until I'm king."

"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Lightning muttered quietly, wondering how much her life had turned around since she had met the prince. Was it only a fortnight ago?

"That's reassuring." Noctis sat down next to her. "How old were his kids?"

"Does it matter?"

"I'm curious."

"About a dead man's family?" Her words were particularly bitter. "That's kind of twisted."

Noctis sighed and felt in his pockets. After a minute he pulled out the lighter he had kept, and a packet of cigarettes he had brought at Cid's pub while the others were distracted. He saw Lightning raise an eyebrow out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm. Maybe we just should have waited a few years, you'd be out of the way by then..."

"I have no idea how many times I have said this," He frowned, lightning one of the cigarettes. "I am NOT going to get cancer. Besides, I only smoke when I'm stressed."

"You're stressed?" The soldier sounded amused, as if she didn't believe princes suffered from stress. Maybe some people didn't.

"I have just smuggled a confirmed enemy of my kingdom away from an organization that thinks she's dead, along with her best friends, who it looks like is going out with one of my best friends. Yes, I'm a little stressed." He sighed and took a drag on the cigarette.

"So?" Lightning shrugged and lay down on the ground. "I _am_ the enemy of your kingdom, who was smuggled away from the organization that was her home for the past seven years that ordered her best friend to kill her; by the man _she_ was supposed to kill. You don't see me lighting up."

"It's not just stress." He grumbled, breathing out. _You win this round._ He thought.

"Yeah, addiction helps that." She commented. Noctis glared at her.

"It helps me remember." He said. "My mother, my childhood..." He paused to take another drag. "Life was easier back then."

"For you maybe." Noctis turned to face Lightning, who was biting her lip.

"What happened to you?" He asked gently.

"Does it matter?"

"Your parents dead too?"

"I don't know." Lightning shrugged. "My mother left when I was two. I ran away when I was sixteen, never bothered looking back."

"Why not?" Noctis had to admit, he was curious about Lightning's past. _No-one just falls headfirst into a murderous organization like Phoenix._

"Because I hate my parents." Her voice was completely devoid of any emotion. It was just a fact. The air became unbearably heavy.

Noctis squirmed slightly and held out the packet.

"Sure you don't want any?" He asked, mentally hitting himself. Lightning snorted and sat up.

"I'm sure."

"..." Noctis looked at Lightning. His childhood was mostly happy, until his later years, but it wasn't hard to work out hers wasn't happy at all. He felt slightly responsible for her. "Lightning, let me help you. I can get you and Vanille out of Pulse, set you up in another country." He could feel Lightning staring at him, but he was determined to finish. "Cocoon maybe, or Astrum. Vanille might like that, it's where Felix came from-"

"Why are you so keen to help me?" Lightning sounded angry.

"Why are _you_ so keen to do everything by yourself?" Noctis responded, beginning to get annoyed at her.

"Because you can't trust anyone." She snapped. "People just let you down, even if they don't mean to. And then there are the people who let you down on purpose. I trusted Snow, and look what happened." She scowled and looked away from him pointedly.

"Lightning." She ignored him. "Lightning!" He grabbed her hand. "I'm not him."

She turned around and looked at him for what felt like hours.

"I suppose you're not."

And before Noctis could even comprehend what was happening, Lightning had leant forwards and kissed him.

* * *

**IS SO BAD!!!**

**T.T**

**I hate it! Which... seems to be recurring in this story. Hate this chapter, that chapter, then this chapter. ****Urgh.**

**I'm going to be brief - *Audience cheers* - PFFFT! Next chapter might be a while, am tres sorry about that, but I want to get better before writing this again. Please review!**

**I looooove you all very much, mo charas from around the universe! You guys keep me writing!**

**RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'M A BAD PERSON!!!**

**I HAVEN'T UPDATE THIS IN ALMOST A MONTH!!!**

**FEEL FREE TO SLAP ME!!!**

**Anyway, I don't like parts of this chapter. But I like other parts. So yay! Kinda.**

**Mucho thank ye to Dawn for making a trailer for this story! WOWZA!!! I recommend watching it (Take out the spaces): www. youtube .com/watch?v=8I3hvqgo_hs&feature=channel_page**

**I'll put a link up in my profile too.**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Final Fantasy XIII or Versus XIII. Or - You know what, I own nothing! Only this Kung-Fu hamster on my desk!**

**Let's get started!**

* * *

In a strange way, Snow was almost relieved by Sazh's death.

Trying to arrange the retrieval and burial of the body was a distraction, something he could throw himself into. Something that could help him put everything else aside, even if only for a little while.

He couldn't leave Phoenix, not until Sazh was at peace. He'd have to delay his escape a little longer.

It would be hard though – He'd been in Phoenix since he was six, brought in after the death of his parents. He didn't know much else, but he did know that Phoenix was corrupt and a bigger danger to his health than if he'd been taking heroin.

He chuckled sadly.

He'd have to hold on just a little longer. A few more days would do no harm.

* * *

Lightning had to admit, she had no idea why she was kissing Noctis, but it had been something to do in a way.

He tasted of tobacco, blasted cigarette. Although it wasn't as unpleasant as she thought it would be. And he was surprisingly warm.

She heard something, faint but audible, a snap. A twig breaking, somewhere in the distance. Instinct took over her muscles and she pulled away, pulling out her gunblade.

"You heard it too?" Noctis whispered, summoning a sword out of thin air. She didn't respond, instead she walked silently towards the trees. She could hear voices clearly.

"It's very green."

"It's a jungle. It's meant to be green."

"It makes our job easier. He'll stand out more."

Lightning frowned, unable to recognise them. Straightening up, she saw the armour of the Tenebrae soldiers. She ducked down again and glared at Noctis, who looked slightly pale.

As if sensing her glare, he turned to face her and shook his head. Denying responsibility, knowledge of these... invaders. That's what they were. Invading her country, as much as she hated it.

She wanted to kill them. But she had a feeling that the man crouching next to her would object to that.

'Head back to the others.' He mouthed, before slipping back the way he came. Lightning took one last look at the invaders before walking silently back into the depths of the forest.

* * *

Phobos smiled as he filed the tapes he had recorded. Putting that bug in Lightning's room had all the proof he needed to order her removal. It was almost a shame that Snow had been able to complete his mission... He would have preferred to take her out himself.

He frowned as he came across an extra tape.

"Idiot boy..." He snarled. "Must have kept recording..." A smirk appeared on his face. "It could hold her death...."

He placed the tape into the player and listened.

He could hear breathing, followed by loud coughing.

"_Lightning? Lighting, can you hear me?"_

A slight groan, mumbled words.

"_That's it, I'm getting her out of here now."_

He frowned, trying to place the voice. It sounded like that girl, the one who had never joined Phoenix but always helped Snow and Lightning. A shame really, the girl was a talented mage, and a good markswoman. What was her name? Vanira? Vanilla? Something like that.

Then it clicked. Snow had said he would take care of the body, and he hadn't. A lie. For shame, Phobos chuckled. Then, as the conversation continued, another piece of the puzzle fell into place with a deafening clang.

She was still alive. She had escaped, with that girl. And Snow knew.

He smirked and lifted up the phone. The next few days would be entertaining.

"Hello Sir? This is Phobos. I'm afraid we have a traitor..."

* * *

Vanille was sitting cross-legged on the ground, sketching patterns in the dirt. Life had gotten incredibly complicated in an amazingly short amount of time.

And then she heard a scrambling noise, coming through the bushes. She stood up and pointed her staff –

And nearly took out Lightning's eyes.

"Bloody HELL Vanille!" She snapped, ducking just in time. "Watch where you point that stick!"

"It's a staff!"

"Stick, staff, whatever." Lightning sighed and waved on hand through the air. She looked a bit pink.

"Just because it doesn't shoot bullets, you're not interested."

"That's not fair, besides-"

"Can we please focus?" Noctis stumbled over a tree root slightly as he appeared in the clearing.

"Focus on what?" Felix asked, walking over.

"Soldiers from Tenebrae-" Noctis began.

"Your bloody soldiers." Lightning growled slightly.

"I've already told you, I haven't got anything to do with army!" The Prince snapped back.

"Your country, your soldiers." She shot back, before turning back to Vanille. "We've got to fight."

"No, we don't!"

"Then what should we do?"

"Hide."

* * *

Noctis sat on the bonnet of the car, watching as the group of soldiers burst through the forest. He smiled coldly.

"May I ask what you are doing here?" The soldiers exchanged glances, before one, clearly the leader, stepped forwards.

"Your Highness, we have orders to escort you and your party back to Tenebrae."

"And who do these orders come from?" Noctis asked, the smile vanishing from his face.

"General Arminius sire." Another one piped up. Noctis gave him a contemptuous look and felt something he hadn't for a while. Indignation.

"I do not take orders from a _general_." He snarled. The soldiers exchanged glances yet again; clearly this was not going according to their plan.

"Uh..." Another one, even more nervous began to speak. "These orders come directly from-"

"I think you will find it goes General, Prince, King. Not; Prince, General, King; or even Prince, King, General. Am I clear?" He snapped, feeling his eyes turn red.

"Sire, these orders were passed on from the king-" The first soldier began.

"Who gave you these orders?"

"Ur..." The third soldier murmured.

"General Arminius sire." The second soldier repeated. Noctis wondered if that was all he knew to say.

"I shall not come. General Arminius has no power over me... as he should well know." He smiled as an air of panic began to descend on the soldiers.

"Regrettably sire," The leader spoke in a well practised calm tone. "We were told to use force if necessary."

"You'd attack your own prince?" Noctis raised an eyebrow, as a wave of fury hit him. The soldiers exchanged glances. "And who do you think would win this battle?" He added. "Because I can assure you, it shall not be you. But..." _Somnus_ appeared next to him. "... If that is what the Goddess Etro wishes..."

The soldiers began to run.

"Ge – General Arminius will hear about this!" The second soldier yelled over his shoulder as he ran.

"General Arminius will hear about this, _**your Majesty**_." Noctis corrected, as the soldiers vanished back into the jungle. He made a noise between a snarl and a chuckle, amused at their cowardice, angered at their thought that he should listen to Arminius.

"Nice one!" Felix shoved his head out of the car window. "Man, those guys are chickens!"

"You're one to talk..." Lexus chuckled, leaning out of the car door. "Have they gone?"

"Yes." Noctis nodded and turned around. "Get down here!"

"We're coming – EEP!"

"It's not that high Vanille!"

"Not everyone has a gravity bending thingamabob." The younger woman snapped, as Lightning jumped off the cliff edge. "Great. Thanks for the lift!"

"Not a problem." Lightning shot back, crossing her arms and leaning against the rocks. "Should I call you 'Your Majesty' too?" She asked Noctis, raising a single eyebrow.

"No, you should call me 'sire'." Noctis smirked slightly, feeling some of the anger ebb away.

"You'll be lucky." She muttered, watching Vanille slide down the cliff face.

"There are points when I really hate you..." Vanille muttered, landing unelegantly on her feet. "Anyway, I was right. We don't need to fight."

"We don't need to fight _yet_."

* * *

_Another damn meeting._

Snow growled and rubbed his forehead. He had been in enough meetings recently, what with Phoenix preparing another attack on Tenebrae.

With an inaudible growl, he pushed the door to the meeting room open.

The second the door slammed shut behind him, he knew something was wrong. There were a group of heavily armed guards, the leader, and Phobos.

Snow felt like a cold, clammy hand was on his shoulder and gulped slightly.

"Snow..." The leader began. "It has been brought to my attention that you may not have been as loyal as we thought."

Snow frowned. "I-"

"Do not interrupt!" Phobos had a maniacal gleam in his eye, which made Snow fall silent.

He was as good as dead.

"We ordered you to dispose of Lightning, did we not?" The leader's voice was a quiet murmur, which Snow could hardly hear. "And yet you did not. She was resuscitated, by that tribal girl. And you knew that." He sighed and shook his head. "Disappointing. And now you've made yourself useless." He clicked his fingers. "Dispose of him."

There wasn't any point in pretending... or even trying to stay loyal.

Snow sent a blast of ice at the leader, and another at a nearby wall, which cracked. Phobos and the guards were distracted by the threat to the leader's life. Snow took the opportunity to punch through the wall and race out into the corridor. Streaks of heat – Near miss bullets – Raced past his face as he heard Phobos voice, echoing down the corridors.

"I shall deal with the traitors. All of them."

Snow kept running, without looking back. Things had taken a turn... for the very worst.

_Sazh... I wanted to stay and sort things out, but I can't. I can't look after your family. I can't arrange your burial. I'm sorry._

* * *

For such good friends, Noctis mused, Vanille and Lightning sure argued a lot.

"We might as well stay here!" Vanille said, a note of irritation in her voice. "There's no point in moving, I doubt they're going to come back to somewhere they've searched-"

"No, they will come back Vanille, because they'll have been told to pick up his highness here!"

"Can you stop calling me that?"

"Well that's what you are, isn't it?" Lightning snapped, before turning back to Vanille. "We've got to move."

Vanille looked like she was about to snap back at Lightning when her phone rang. Noctis breathed a sigh of relief as the argument came to a temporary close.

"Do you guys argue this much all the time?" Felix joked, earning a glare from Lightning and a shrug from Vanille.

"Not unless she's really annoyed." The younger woman muttered, answering her phone.

"Oh shut up Vanille!"

There was a pause as Vanille listened to her phone.

"Oh go away! I said I didn't want to speak to you!" She snapped into it. There was a pause. "I said I didn't –" She fell silent. The colour drained from her face. "Oh no."

Lightning frowned and tilted her head to the side.

"But how... Great. Just great – Well run for it!" Vanille nodded and hung up. Noctis raised an eyebrow as Felix spoke up.

"What was-?"

"We have a problem." The pigtailed girl shoved her phone back into her pocket and looked at each of them in turn.

"Specifically...?"

"Phoenix know you're alive." Vanille explained, looking at Lightning. "And Phobos is coming after us." The soldier's face paled slightly.

"Shit."

"Who's Phobos?" Noctis asked, earning a stare from Vanille. Lightning was the one who spoke.

"Unofficial second in command of Phoenix, sadistic bastard." She explained. "And he's out to get us."

"... This hasn't been a good day, has it?" Felix muttered dryly. Lightning sent a death glare in his direction.

"Do either of you think," Noctis began carefully. "That now might be a good time to run?"

"Where?" Vanille sighed, sitting on the ground. "Phoenix know Pulse like the back of their hands... they've got contacts everywhere. If they're looking for us, they'll find us."

"Maybe we should fight..." Lightning muttered. The pig-tailed girl shook her head.

"No way."

"You're just scared!"

"You're just as scared as I am Lightning, so don't pretend!" Vanille snapped. "Don't you ever get tired of fighting?"

"... That's what I do Vanille." The assassin scowled into the distance. "I fight. I would have stayed and fought, but you and Snow had other ideas!"

Silence fell.

"We can help you get out of here." Noctis said after a minute, mainly to break the silence. He saw Placido and Lexus raise their eyebrows.

"I don't want your help!" Lightning snapped loudly. "I don't want your charity! Just stay out of this, _your highness_!" The last words were almost pure venom.

"I'm trying to help you!" He shot back. "Technically, I should have killed you the second I saw you!"

"Lightning, please!" Vanille yelled before the woman could continue the argument. "Look, you can't fight them right now! Please, wait a little while. Recuperate."

"What about Snow?" Lightning muttered.

"I'm sure he can look after himself." Lexus began. She glared at him.

"And I can't?"

"... Someone help me out here!"

"This is Snow Villiers?" Placido asked calmly. "The man who tried to kill you?"

"He has a point."

"I'm staying here."

"You can't do everything on your own Light!" Vanille butted in. "We need to get out of here!"

"Vanille, I am not going to die running!"

"You're scared, aren't you?" Noctis commented mildly, making Lightning turned and stare at him.

"What... How... how _dare_ you, you cocky bastard!" Lightning pulled her gunblade out, making everyone except Noctis and Vanille take a step back. "I am not afraid! Not of Phoenix, not of Phobos, or you-"

"What about dying?"

"I am not afraid of something as trivial as dying!" She shot back. There was a long silence, broken only by the wind in the surrounding trees.

"If you're that worried about Snow-"

"I'm not worried about him."

"Could have fooled me."

"Shut it Vanille."

Placido gently tapped Noctis' shoulder and pulled the prince aside.

"I don't mean to hurry you," He whispered. "But any minute now, those soldiers are going to return to Arminius, and then we could have a whole platoon after us." Noctis sighed and rubbed his head.

"Come on." Noctis sighed. "Let's get you two out of here."

"I'm not going." Lightning snapped. "Vanille, you go with them."

"What? No!" Vanille crossed her arms. "I'm not going unless you come!"

"But-"

"No!"

"Vanille, this isn't your fight."

"It doesn't have to be yours either."

Lightning took a deep breath in and shut her eyes. She didn't want to go with Noctis and his friends. But she needed to make sure Vanille was safe. Phoenix never liked the young girl, and she was sure those crystal hunters from all those years ago were sent by Phobos.

"Alright." She muttered. "I'll come. I'll make sure you're safe. And then I'm coming back. Understand?"

"Sure." Vanille shrugged. "... I'll make you stay though."

"I highly doubt that."

"Okay, you guys are going to have to hide in the boot." Felix explained going around the back of the car. "Don't worry, it's big, but you may need to squish a bit. Don't ask me how I know either." Vanille giggled as she followed him around. The second she was out of sight she grabbed Noctis' collar.

"What are you-" Lexus began to step forwards, as Noctis held up a finger to stop him.

"I don't care what the hell you do to me." She explained. "Stab me in the back if you want, because I'm used to it. But if you dare screw Vanille over, I will murder you. Every single one of you. Understand?"

"You don't trust anyone, do you?"

"No." And with that, she let go of the prince and followed Vanille around the back. Noctis crossed his arms and sighed.

_Why the hell am I helping you Lightning?_

* * *

Arminius waited for the connection to King Timaeus to work.

For the Prince to threaten his own soldiers, people who fought to protect him and his family was an outrage. He'd never liked Prince Noctis. Although it was true that the monarchy did have to move with the time, and adapt to the modern age, Noctis Lucis Caelum was far too self assured and arrogant.

The connection flickered into life, the King's voice appearing suddenly in his ear.

"What is it Arminius?" The King asked, a tone of exasperation in his voice.

"It regards Prince Noctis."

"Have you found my nephew?"

"Yes, but he refused to return." Arminius stopped a smirk rising on his lips. "And when my soldiers insisted he return, he threatened them with violence." There was a loud crackle and a sigh in his ear.

"Leave him." The King eventually said. "Allow him to return in his own time. And Arminius?"

"Yes your highness?"

"Once he returns have him followed."

* * *

_Here I am, in the boot of a car belonging to a man who should be dead. Who I should have killed._

_I don't want to go with him. I don't want his help, his sympathy. But I need to know Vanille's going to be okay. This isn't her fight, she should never have been involved in it. That idiot Snow got her involved in it. If I ever see him again, I'll kill him._

_I'm not worried about him._

_... Why didn't I kill you when I had the chance Noctis? I could kill you now if I wanted._

_But I don't want to. You're lucky – But it'll run out eventually. Especially if you keep sticking your nose in where it's not wanted._

* * *

_The soldiers at the border didn't ask too many questions. I think they may have heard of my previous treatment of the other soldiers._

_Well, they deserved it. How dare they treat me like that?_

_I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm smuggling a murder, an enemy of the kingdom into my country. I'm betraying my people._

_She's intriguing though. Not just because she's a l'cie, but there's something odd about her. I wonder what made her hate people so much..._

_I shouldn't be focusing on her though._

_I should be focusing on my people, my kingdom, my family's crystal._

_That's what's important. She's just a l'cie. A pawn. She means nothing._

**Yeah, the ending sucked. But hey, chess rocks!**

**XD**

**Anyway, I promise I'll update more frequently... I've just been lazy this summer.**

**Please review, it always cheers me up! And I can do with some cheering up, school starts on Monday... *Shudders***

**Peace out and happy times ahead mo charas!**

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**I'VE UPDATED!!!!!!!!**

***Gives CPR to those of you who died of shock***

**I'm sooooooooooo sorry I left it so long!! But school's crazy at the moment - Damn you GCSE's. Go to hell, and take your BLP study plan with you. I NEED MUSIC AND SKITTLES TO FOCUS DAMN IT!!!!!!**

**Sorry, I went off on a tangent there.**

**Also, Serah. I'm actually kinda glad. I've changed Lightning's backstory a LOT now - The other main reason for the long gap. So yes, Serah will be in here. As for Fang, or whatever her name will turn out to be, I'm not sure about putting her in here. What do you guys think? I might shove her in here actually, I need more characters! Oh crap! I FORGOT ABOUT HOPE!!!! Eh, I'll shove him in here somewhere... no idea where though....**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Final Fantasy XIII or Versus XIII. I wish I did though, 'cause then I'd KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GAMES!!! YES, I AM HIGH ON SKITTLES AT THE MOMENT!!! NO, I DON'T OWN SKITTLES EITHER!!!!**

* * *

"I'm not going to stay Vanille, can we just get that clear?" Lightning was staring at a warning sticker in the boot of the car, deliberately not looking at Vanille.

"But Light-"

"I'm not staying!" She hissed. "I am going to go back, and I shall fight Phoenix. I've _got_ to fight Phoenix."

"Life's not about fighting, life's about living!" The younger woman waited for a response. When she didn't get one she shrugged in defeat.

_All these walls..._

Startled, Lightning jolted slightly.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." The former assassin kept her voice steady. "Just fine."

_Yet more lies. They seem to fall from your lips easier than breath._

The crystal, fal'Cie, whatever you wanted to call it. It was talking to her again. Her chest hurt, where her mark throbbed in pain.

Why the hell had she been chosen as a l'cie when the fal'Cie seemed to amuse itself by taunting her? Was that why she had been chosen?

But it had never contacted her when she was this far away from the crystal before.

_What path shall you chose?_

_Path...?_ Lightning rested her head against the side of the boot and dug her nails into her palm. She had to remain focused, and not allow herself to fall under. Curse the fal'Cie; damn the power they had over her.

She switched her thoughts to Serah. The reason she fought. The reason she hated. The reason she didn't trust anyone anymore...

Perhaps thinking about her wasn't the best idea. Given this situation.

* * *

"I still don't get it!" Felix yelled from the front seat. Placido winced and avoided one of his waving arms. "Not that long ago, you wanted to kill her, and now you're helping her!"

"You didn't want me to kill her!" Noctis protested, hoping that sound didn't travel well into the boot. He hadn't heard any conversation between Vanille and Lightning, so hopefully it didn't.

"I'm not complaining, I'm curious!" The blonde shot back, turning his head around to see the backseats.

"Well, I am." Muttered Lexus. There was a slight pause.

"... You're what?"

"Complaining. She could have murdered you then and there!" Lexus turned to glare slightly at Noctis. The Prince blinked.

"I just... Look, I don't think she's a bad person-"

"Yet she'd still kill you if it suited her."

"It's all she knows!"

"Why do you keep making excuses for her?!" He snapped. Noctis sighed.

"I don't think she's that bad. She's a l'cie and a wanted criminal, she's not going to get help from many places. Besides," The Prince shrugged, hoping to have avoided the question. "She's interesting."

"Interesting?" Placido asked, glancing in the rear mirror. "What does that mean?" The silence in the car was stiff.

"I mean... she's interesting."

"In what way?"

"Is this twenty questions or something?" Noctis grumbled, twisting in his seat to look out the window.

"Is she a plant, animal, or mineral?"

"Felix..." Lexus gave the blonde a warning glare.

"Sor-_ry_! Excuse me for trying to keep everyone in good humour!" He muttered, sinking down in his seat.

Noctis glared at the passing scenery. His thoughts wandered, as they often did, back into the past. His mother, his father... what would they think of what he was doing? Would they approve of him helping people in need, or would they consider him a traitor to their country?

Did it even matter what they would think? They were dead, trapped in Etro's grasp. He wouldn't see them again. At least, they wouldn't be the same. He missed them, and the comfort they brought. He could do with that right now. He felt his loneliness returning as they drove into Tenebrae.

He needed some advice.

* * *

He'd been running for hours. He was certain he'd shaken off the chasers, and now he was on his own near the border.

Near Sazh.

It wasn't easy for a man of his size to sneak around, but when necessary, he could blend into the background easily enough.

Right now, he was busy, preoccupying himself with grave digging. At least the soldiers had had the decency to cover the body.

Finally satisfied the hole was deep enough for his friend, he placed Sazh into the grave. He'd been brought up in Phoenix, without religion. Religion taught morals, something they couldn't have.

"Bye Sazh." He muttered, and started to throw the soil back into the grave. A sudden noise made him leap and spin around.

Snow glanced back into the grave, and saw Hina looking up at him.

"Sorry about that." He knelt down and extended his arm out, allowing her to hop on. Hina remained silent as the earth was thrown back into the hole. After it was done, she warked mournfully.

Snow had a feeling that the chocobo knew he was gone. He sighed and let Hina perch on his shoulder.

"Looks like it's just you and me." He muttered, before turning and disappearing into the woods.

* * *

The car juddered to a halt, making the sleeping Vanille slam her head against the side of the boot.

"Ow....." She grumbled and rubbed her head. "That hurt." She looked over at Lightning, who seemed to be stuck inside her own head. "Lightning?"

The woman raised her head and glanced at her.

"... You okay?"

"I'm fine." Before Vanille could point out she was lying through her teeth, the boot opened.

"_Ow_ my corneas!" She yelped, covering her eyes. "Can you warn us before you do that?"

"Sorry." Felix beamed. "Noct's gone into the church, says he wants to pray or something. You guys hungry?"

Vanille stomach growled.

"I'll get some food." The blonde grinned and slipped away. Vanille poked her head out and looked around the deserted street they were in. Everything felt like it was dying. She instantly hated it, missing the lift that teemed on Pulse.

"Vanille, get your head back in." Lightning snapped.

"It's all clear." The younger woman shrugged and climbed out, glad to stretch her limbs. The soldier paused before climbing out after her and leaning against the car.

"So," Placido said, unsuccessfully trying to break to awkward silence. Lexus was glaring at Lightning. "How was the trip?"

"Bumpy." Vanille smirked. "And dark."

"The boot's the safest way to get around." Felix suddenly appeared, holding a bag. "Food. Eat up peoples." Hands dived into the bag to grab food. All except Lightning, who was frowning at the small church next to them.

"What's in there?" She asked, pointing to the church.

"Nothing." Placido explained through a mouthful of sandwich. "It's empty. Abandoned and forgotten, no-one goes there anymore."

"It's pretty though." Felix added. Vanille glanced at Lightning and then at the church.

There was something weird about that church... She highly doubted that it was empty. But she knew better than to pry, no matter how tempting it was. She'd leave that to Lightning.

"Do you have any family?" Lexus abruptly asked. Vanille waved a hand back and forth.

"Yes and no. Yes as in they're probably alive, no as in I have no contact."

"Why not?" Felix enquired.

"Long story. Basically, they wanted me to get married – Don't look like that, that wasn't the issue. It was _who_ they wanted me to marry." The silence was clearly asking for more detail, so she complied. "He was pretty stalkerish. So I ran away. They never liked me much anyway."

"A pity." Placido muttered coolly without looking up.

"What about you?" Lexus looked directly at Lightning. "Any family?"

The air felt heavy. Vanille stared down at the pavement. This always happened when anyone asked about Lightning's family.

"No."

"Parents, siblings-"

"I SAID I didn't have any!" She yelled, slamming her hands on the car.

"I was just asking." Lexus muttered.

"Well I've got some advice for you. Keep your nose out of where it's not wanted, and you'll live longer."

"Are you threatening me?" He asked. Lightning remained silent. "I see."

"Anyway, what about you guys?" Vanille piped up with a smile, hoping to break the tension. It worked.

"I got kicked out of my house when I was a kid, so I went onto the streets." Felix explained. "Met up with Noct when I tried to mug him. He beat me up and then hired me on the spot."

"That was one of the strangest job interviews ever." Placido muttered. The blonde pouted.

"That's my line!"

"Where are you going?" Lexus suddenly asked, as Lightning headed towards the church.

"Just looking."

"Noct said-"

"I don't give a rat's _ass_ what he said!" And with that, the soldier marched around the back of the church.

"Best just to leave her be." Vanille said, trying to keep her voice calm. "She has a hell of a right hook."

* * *

Noctis was kneeling in a church pew, his head lowered. The church was ancient, forgotten in the city where progress was all that mattered. He liked it this way. It was quiet, peaceful, a sanctuary. Exactly how a church should be.

It was also where his plea might be heard.

"Etro..." He whispered, raising his head up to look at the painting of the goddess. "Please, speak to me. Help me."

A breathy chuckle echoed through his head, making him shiver.

_You still have much to learn about how to speak to those of a higher station._

"I apologize your ladyship." He muttered, ducking his head back down.

_Better. Now what have you come for?_

"Advice."

_On which subject?_

"The woman, Lightning." The laugh echoed through his ears, full of mirth.

_The assassin? The l'cie? The slave?_

Noctis winced, remembering Lightning's anger at being called that.

"Yes, her."

_What about her?_

"... I don't know what to do." He admitted. "I'm betraying my kingdom by helpi –"

_May I remind you,_ Etro's voice dropped down an octave to a growl. _That it is __**my**__ Kingdom, which I gifted to your family centuries ago?_

"Yes Goddess." He shut his eyes and breathed out slowly. Speaking with Etro was like playing with fire – You could easily get burnt. "I'm betraying the kingdom by helping her."

_Then do not assist her._

"... But I feel like I should help her." He explained. Etro fell silent for a minute.

_Torn between your duty and your... Conscience? _

"But I don't feel guilty."

_Then why are you compelled to help her?_

"I... have no idea."

* * *

Lightning stepped through a side door and into a cramped room. Tables and painting were everywhere, and she had to be careful not to step on anything.

There was something strange about this place. A pull, an aura. It wasn't just an old church, there was something Noctis was keeping hidden here.

She sighed and rested her elbows on the table. Her head hurt, and the room was stifling humid, making it worse.

_She was standing in front of the stand, looking as inconspicuous as possible. When no-one was looking, her hand sneaked out and pulled a hair band from the stand, dropping it into her school bag. _

_No-one looked. No yells or orders to stop. She waited until she saw an old lady heading towards the exit. Then she fell into step alongside her._

_The alarms went off and she ran. The old lady was stopped by security, who probably thought the senile old dear had forgotten to pay for something; it was no matter... She had gotten Serah's birthday present –_

Lightning's head slammed onto the wood of the table with a bang that echoed through the room. She jolted and looked up. The smell of smoke, dust and incense was making her drowsy. Making her drift back.

She growled and dug her nails into her palm, before leaving the room through a large door. She entered a large chamber, and felt a sudden cold wind swirl around her. Fear ran up her spine as she pulled out her gunblade. She heard an inhuman laugh, and a very human and familiar scream.

And then it was gone, leaving her alone with the infuriated Prince.

"What," He snarled, standing up. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I was..." Lightning started, before taking notice of the Prince's eye colour. Blood red. Like it had been during her attempt to kill him. She shook her head clear of those thoughts and continued. "I was looking."

"What do you mean, looking?" He snapped, marching towards her. She raised an eyebrow.

_Good. You've learnt not to trust me. I think. I hope..._

"There's something about this church that you're keeping hidden." Lightning said, keeping one eye on the Prince's fist, which was balled up. If he dared to hit her, she'd hit back. Harder. Noctis faltered, before shaking his head.

"It's none of your business. It's Tenebrae's business, and you're her enemy." He practically spat at her. "Now get out."

"It wouldn't be anything to do with that wind, would it?" She asked. Noctis stared at her, dumbfounded, before bursting into laughter. "What?"

"'That wind'?" The Prince laughed, full of spite. "'That wind' as you so elegantly put it was the presence of the Goddess Etro." Lightning blinked, before shaking her head.

"Bullshit."

"You think?" Noctis smirked. The soldier nodded, her hand tightening on her gunblade. The Prince's eyes were deadly, full of some kind of rage. Rage that wasn't even being aimed at her, just at the world in general. And, while it didn't scare her, it definitely unnerved her. That and his declaration that his Goddess of Death had just been in the room.

"Etro doesn't just reveal herself to mortals." She said, tilting her chin up slightly. Noctis frowned slightly.

"I'm no normal mortal." He hissed, taking a step forwards. Lightning instinctively took a step back, wanting to keep him at arm's length. There was something very wrong.

The door suddenly slammed behind her. The soldier spun around to look, instantly scolding herself for turning her back on Noctis when he was like this. The unnatural wind blew around her again, and everything went black.

She was still conscious. She could feel the wind on her skin, Noctis' hand on her arm, a voice in the air, but she was blind. She couldn't speak, and she couldn't move. A peal of maddened laughter echoed through her head, and something like ice touched her cheek.

_I wonder what he sees in you, slave._ The voice crooned. If she could have, Lightning would have shuddered. _There is much death in your past... Do you consider yourself on par with me, l'cie? Do you consider yourself able to choose who shall die and who shall live?_

For the first time in years, she felt real fear. Fear that ate away at her. Fear that angered her, because it made her weaker.

_Know this – You are merely a pawn, to be erased when the knights, queens and kings decide that your death will be of most value. _

The scream rang through her ears, making the soldier's heart feel like it was shattering.

And the world rushed back at such a speed, Lightning fell backwards. Arms grabbed her and steadied her.

"You okay?" Noctis leant over her, a look of surprise on his face, his eyes now dark blue. "I didn't know Etro would do that." She stayed still for a minute, getting her breath back and thinking hard.

"I'm fine." She eventually said, pushing herself upright. Noctis kept on hand on her arm. "I _said_ I was fine."

"I heard. I just... I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to hear that..." He sighed and pulled on her arm. "Come and see."

"See what?" Lightning asked. The Prince responded with a small smile and another gentle tug on her arm. With a roll of her eyes, she followed him over to a donation box, a little panel of brass.

Noctis felt in his pockets and pulled out a key, which he used to unlock it. The panel fell away, and Lightning saw what the Prince had been hiding.

"A crystal fragment?" She gasped, bending down to get a better look. The crystal pulsed a vivid green. "This isn't yours."

"I salvaged it." He knelt down next to her. "From Demum. Not like they needed it anymore..." His voice trailed off.

Demum had been destroyed years ago. In a war. Like the one that was starting now.

Lightning hesitantly reached out and touched the crystal with one finger. It seemed to shiver under her finger, as if it was crying.

"You shouldn't lock it up." She whispered. Noctis shrugged.

"Either I keep it, or the Marauders get it. And then we'd all be doomed." He explained. Lightning kept quiet. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." She slowly removed her finger from the crystal. "I'm just fine." The Prince kept watching her for a minute, and she began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. "If you're done talking to your Goddess, we better go."

* * *

"This is wrong."

The man glanced up at his colleague, who was snapping his phone shut.

"What do you mean?"

"We're trailing our own prince." The first man muttered numbly. "The man who will be the leader of our country one day. This is not why I signed up."

"The King has his reasons." He replied, loading his gun. "There are enemies outside and enemies within. It's our job to uncover both types. Now get your stuff."

* * *

Vanille was beginning to hate the boot of people's cars. Specifically, she hated this boot of this car. She hated the smell of petrol and the spanner that was digging into her thigh.

She also hated the fact that Lightning was deliberately blanking her. That she was ignoring her questions about why she looked pale and... Dare she say it, scared.

She wished she'd talk more. Until then, she had to keep herself occupied during the journey to the old warehouse they'd be spending the night in, running over the conversations she'd had with the others in her head.

Placido had been employed as a personal assistant, but he was the only decent driver as the group. So he ended up doing that as well. Lexus was a soldier in the army, who was discharged after he'd gotten into a fight in a pub while drunk, which was how he'd gotten that scar. Noctis claimed that he 'needed a bodyguard', even though Lexus claimed he actually made sure Noctis didn't do something dumb. He wasn't often successful...

Vanille grinned. Noctis seemed to be like a teenage girl who took in stray puppies... maybe that's why he was helping them. They were lost animals in need of a hand. She better not tell Lightning that though – She wasn't against punching women if she thought they deserved it.

The young girl took another glance at the assassin, who had squeezed her eyes shut.

"Lightning? You awake?"

"Yeah." Lightning opened one eye and looked at Vanille. "What is it?"

"... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. As usual." And with that, she shut her eye again. Vanille sighed and shifted to move away from the spanner.

It was going to be a long car ride.

* * *

Noctis was staring at the car roof, praying that the car would reach its' destination soon. Felix was snoring in the front seat.

He felt guilty _now_, after the encounter with Etro. That shouldn't have happened. That was a massive mistake. But... she shouldn't have invaded his privacy, which there wasn't much of anyway. So yes, he was angry. Yes, he had wanted to hurt her, but no, he hadn't meant to hurt her like that.

She had handled it surprisingly well though. He had expected her to be horror-struck, for her possibly even to faint – _You wanted her to be terrified._

Noctis groaned and rubbed his temples. He had still not gotten an answer from the Goddess. And now he felt sick to the core of him.

No-one should have to deal with Etro. His family had been ripped apart by her, and her power to corrupt everything she touched. He hated the Goddess. Yet he had to worship and revere her, as she had created his kingdom and the crystal that kept it alive and safe.

It didn't mean he had to like it though.

* * *

The box had splinters in.

It was an odd thing to be focusing on, but it distracted Lightning from the other thoughts swirling around her head. They gave her a migraine.

"So will you two be alright here for tonight?" Felix doubled checked, making Lightning grind her teeth. How many times had he asked that question? He wasn't checking on her, she was certain of that. She had shot him after all. No, he was checking on Vanille, making sure she would be all right.

Not that it irritated her. In a way, it was comforting, knowing someone was going to look out for Vanille. Because she wasn't sure if she could stay anymore. Not after Etro. Not after what she had heard – Or rather, what she _thought_ she had heard.

But she was certain that it was what she thought it was.

"We'll be fine!" Vanille grinned. "We've been in worse than this! And at least it's warmish!"

"Good." Noctis nodded, glancing uneasily at her. "We'll be back in the morning."

"Whatever." Lightning sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest. There was a slight growl from the other side of the warehouse.

"We don't have to help you, you know." The Prince snapped.

"I never asked for your help, now _**piss** off_!"

"Lightning!" Vanille yelled, glaring at the soldier. Lightning sighed and shook her head. She wasn't going to mess this up for Vanille.

"... Sorry..." She growled. "It's been a long day." She didn't like the look Noctis was giving her.

"Apology accepted." He said sharply before turning to his friends. "We better head back."

With that and a couple of 'goodnight's and 'sleep well's, they were gone. Leaving her with Vanille.

"... You shouldn't have said that." The younger woman said after a minute.

"Too late now. Go to sleep."

"Are you sure you're okay –?"

"I'm _fine_ Vanille. Now just go to sleep."

"But-"

"_Sleep._" The last word was said with such explosive force that Vanille instantly fell silent. After a moment, she lay down on the crate and sighed.

"I hope you're in a better mood tomorrow. They're just trying to be nice."

"Whatever."

With a grumble, Vanille shut her eyes and fell asleep. Lightning waited for a moment before whispering.

"Vanille?" No reply. "Vanille, are you awake?" Still no reply. The assassin stood up, gathered her coat and weapon, before taking one last glance at the sleeping girl. "I'm sorry."

With that she walked out of the warehouse. On the run or not, she needed some air.

* * *

_I'm back home. Back in my Kingdom, my birth land, my room, my bed._

_I'm where I belong. So why do I feel so uneasy? Why can't I rest? Why won't my thoughts stop spinning?_

_It's because of those two. The Goddess and the l'cie. _

_So alike. Both so stubborn and involved with death._

_Etro... did you... did you release Lightning from your realm? If so, why? What plans do you have for her? What plans do you have for me?_

_I need to think._

* * *

_Damn it's cold._

_When we were nine, it snowed. For the first and only time in our lives, it snowed. We ran straight out into the slush. It was freezing, and we had no cold clothing, so we got really ill afterwards. You thought it was hilarious, the amount of tissues we ran through. You made castle out of the tissue boxes. _

_I wish you were still here. I miss you. I need you._

_I'm so sorry Serah. So sorry..._**Is it really sad that, after a year on FanFiction, I still can't work out how to use these line things properly? Yep? Okay, cool.**

* * *

**Anyway, not sure about this chapter. I think it was okay. Updates will be random, as I've got mock exams and real exams and coursework, and A-level options and university courses to think of and... Yeah, everything's a bit insane at the moment. I'm still trying to update though!**

**Also, this may be uber cheesy, but this chapter's for Mr Shave, a teacher at my school who died recently. Thanks for everything sir, you were awesome. We all miss you. Heaven's lucky.**

**Sorry to depress you all guys... I need a joke..... But I can't think of one...**

**Q: Why'd the chicken cross the road?**

**A: Because it was being shot at.**

**................................. What the hell? O.o ****My brain's weirder today.**

**Yes, weird_ER_.**

**I'll shut up now.**

**Actually, wait, no I won't. _74 REVIEWS?!?!?!?!?!!?_ Thank you all so much!!!! Most reviews on ANY of my stories ever! I'm so happy! You guys are so awesome. *Bows down to all of your combined awesomeness, which, combined, it more awesome than anything else in the universe. Ever.***

**Peace out mo charas!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, it took me forever to update, and I apologize so much for that. However, I do have my reasons:**

**1: I had mock exams, which I needed to revise for, etcetera.  
2: It was Christmas, and I stopped working on this for a while to work on my Christmas story.  
3: I got distracted by Final Fantasy VI. Eheheh...  
4: This chapter was damn near impossible for me to write.**

**In fact, I'm still not happy with this chapter. But I've re-written it so many times, I think I'll go insane if I try again. Well, insane_r_.**

**Oh, and YAY for XIII being released! :D There shall be nil spoilers in this story. Nil. I guarantee!**

**So, is there anything else I need to say? -Thinking-**

**I don't think so... ONTO THE CHAPPY!!!!**

* * *

When Noctis was young, he had discovered an escape route from his bedroom. It involved swinging out of the window that was often seized solid, onto a vent and shuffling along before clambering down a few pipes.

He hadn't used the escape route since his mid-teens, normally choosing to leave the castle out of the back exit. But that would mean passing some guards, something he wasn't in the mood to do.

Noctis dropped off the water pipe and landed in the back alley behind the castle, where the bins were kept. With a quick glance around the area, he jogged off.

He hadn't wandered freely through the streets of his country since his mother died. Not without someone with him, or with some kind of mission in mind. It was nice, seeing the kingdom that he would, one day, look after. To see the thing that would be the most important thing in his life.

Somehow, it seemed slightly bleak. In fairy tales, the prince always married a princess, and they lived happily ever after as they wisely guarded their kingdom. But marriages broke down, people had duel motives, there were the problems with the crystals, and you always had to look over your shoulder. Maybe she had a point. Trusting people didn't always seem wise.

He scowled and hit himself in the side of the head with his palm. He had to stop thinking about her. Just sort her out. Get her into a new country, and then just leave her alone. For good.

Noctis cleared his head with a sharp shake, and walked deeper into the city. Now was not the time to think of such things. Lightning wasn't his main problem. He had to focus on the challenge of Etro and the crystals.

* * *

Lightning hated parks, but there wasn't anywhere else to go. The streets were too open and exposed. She couldn't risk breaking into anywhere...

But then why did she decide to leave in the first place? Nothing she did made sense anymore.

She sighed and leant her head back, staring at the trees. So this was autumn: wet, cold, and full of leaves. What fun. She thought autumn was meant to be a 'crisp' month. Crap. Both the month and the description were full of crap.

Lightning sat up and shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She needed a clear mind. She needed to think, without soggy leaves of all things getting in her way.

Facing Phoenix. Getting revenge for what they had done to her. How dare they? How dare they try to kill her, when she had done everything they had asked her for years?

Every order, assassination, sabotage mission, she had done without complaint, even when her conscience screamed at her from deep within. Except one. One failure was enough for her to be written off. She had failed to kill one person, for the first time in her life. So she was a failure.

If she killed him now, could she go back? Would she want to?

Being on the run was so hard, having to look over your shoulder every day. Being tracked down, marked for life. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't that different to being a l'cie.

Lightning chuckled quietly to herself. She should be used to it. It was the same wherever she went. There's a l'cie. Kill the l'cie. There's the assassin. Kill the assassin.

Someone grabbed her head and tilted it backwards.

"What," Snapped Noctis, glaring right at her. "The hell are you doing here?"

_Yep, he's pissed._

"I'm getting fresh air." She replied, keeping her gaze steady. "What about you?"

"I am out here, worrying about what the hell to do with you and how to keep you hidden!"

Lightning blinked.

"Whoops."

"'Whoops' is damn right." He sighed. "Do you want to get caught? Is that it? Do you want to get me into an even bigger dilemma?"

"Why would I want that?"

"Revenge?"

"You're not the one I want revenge on." She sighed and pulled out of his grip. "Besides, if I got found out, so would Vanille. I wouldn't do that to her." Noctis hesitated, before climbing over the back of the bench to sit next to her.

"Hypocrite." He decided. "You say you trust no-one, yet you're so protective and trusting of Vanille."

"Trusting?" Lightning snorted. "Protective, yes. Trusting? No."

"Why are you so protective?"

"I have my reasons."

"Which are?"

"Go to hell."

"I only asked." He sighed and looked up at the sky. "No moon."

"No stars either." Lightning paused. "Is it always like this?"

"Like what?"

"So... dead." She frowned. "On Pulse there was always something... it was alive. Not like this."

Noctis felt protective of his Kingdom, and instinctively leapt to its defence.

"It is alive. Maybe not in the way you think of it. Maybe there aren't beasts and plants everywhere. Maybe it's quiet. But there are people here; _they're_ this Kingdom's life."

"There's no nature though." The assassin looked up at the sky. "No stars, no plants... No wonder you're having trouble with the crystal."

He stared at her, stunned both by what she said and the ease she had said it with.

"How did you-"

"Know? I'm not just an assassin, I'm a l'cie as well. I can smell it. Your crystal is rotting." She glanced at him. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"That's none of your business." The Prince's stare turned to a glare.

"So you don't know?"

"Shut up." He hissed. "_Now_." Lightning raised an eyebrow, but, for the first time in weeks, did as she was told. "No. I don't know what to do."

"You're screwed."

"Yes." Noctis sighed. "Yes, we are."

"... That's why you're salvaging crystal fragments? To keep it alive?"

"And to keep them away from the marauders."

"It won't work."

"I know." He frowned. "Why am I telling you this?"

"Because you're a fool. You shouldn't trust a l'cie. We're all dangerous, right?" She sat upright. "Or at least, that's what the stories say."

"'Not all l'cie are bad. But all l'cie are dangerous.'" Noctis quoted, remembering the passage from a book he'd studied.

"Including me."

"You're not bad."

"That's what you think." Lightning sighed. "I'm not just bad. I'm a failure too." He glanced at her, confused by what she meant.

"... I don't think there is a real bad. A real evil. Not anymore." He said, switching back to the other aspect of their conversation. "'There is nothing good or evil, but thinking makes it so'."

"Whoever said that is a moron."

"That was the greatest playwright ever."

"He's a moron." She smirked. Noctis grinned. "There's an evil. It just the level of evil that matters."

"Right..." He wrinkled his nose. "You should get some rest."

"So should you." The soldier didn't seem in a hurry to move.

"Astrum's quite far away."

"I've learnt to manage without sleep."

"Lightning, get off the streets before you get caught." He snapped. There was a pause before she pushed herself off the bench. "Goodnight."

"Yeah... night." And with that she vanished into the park.

She confused him. Constantly. There were occasions when she'd kill him without a second thought, and times when she seemed to treat him... like an equal. A peer. Almost like a friend.

Noctis groaned and rubbed his head. She made his brain ache and his life more complicated. So why did he still want to help her?

_Because she intrigues you._

Why did she intrigue him?

_Because she's stubborn, she yells at you, and you find her entertaining._

Shouldn't those be reasons he hated her?

_You're just weird._

* * *

Oerba Yun Fang was nervous.

She'd never done such a high level assassination before. Low level politicians, medium level threats. That's what she dealt with.

Not royalty. Not royalty that one of the top assassins in Phoenix couldn't kill. But it was a start, right? A step up to better things.

Fang sighed and prepared herself. Tenebrea was a long journey.

* * *

Lightning was lost.

She had ducked into a side alley to avoid a group of people, who now that she thought about it were probably drunk, she had lost her mental trail.

_Damn it._

"Okay..." She whispered, wandering through the dimly lit streets. "I'm near the street where we met up with Sazh... and... I'm utterly lost..."

At which point she saw a large building looming in front of her, far better lit than the others.

_And I've just stumbled in front of the palace, where many of the people inside want my head on a silver platter._

Lightning turned to leave before feeling a hand slam down onto her shoulder.

_Damn._

"What are you doing here?" The voice growled into her ear. "You're trespassing in a restricted area."

"I... I got lost." She stated, feeling the grip on her shoulder tighten. Damn it, she was going to give him a punch in the face if he didn't leave her alone.

"Right. Lost." He snorted. "And the sword you carry?" The soldier winced: She'd forgotten about that. "Turn around-"

"Is there a problem?" Noctis stepped seemingly out of nowhere, an expression on his face that made Lightning's heart sink. She was in trouble.

"I found this woman wandering around this area." He explained.

"I wasn't wandering! I-"

"-Was coming to visit me." The Prince suddenly said. "She must have gotten a bit lost..." Noctis grabbed her arm in a vice grip. "Excuse me."

"Um... of course your highness." The soldier let go of Lightning's shoulder as the young man dragged her into the palace.

"Not one word." He hissed into her ear, before guiding her through a maze of corridors and staircases at a ridiculous speed. Her back ached.

"You said not to get caught." She whispered. "And look who's dragging me through the palace."

"Shut up now." He opened a door and pushed her into a dark room, following her and closing the door behind her.

"I got lost." Lightning said before Noctis could start talking. "I didn't decide it would be fun to wander past the place that put a black spot on me."

"How could you have gotten lost?"

"By trying to stay out of the way of some drunkards!"

"Oh for...!" The Prince growled and pinched his nose. She sighed and glanced around the room. It was dark, cold, and...

"Is this your room?" She asked, looking at the wardrobe, bed and desk. Noctis nodded, not looking at her. "You don't like it?"

"I don't spend a lot of time in it." He glared up at the ceiling. She rubbed her stinging back, wincing as her hands passed over the scars. "You okay?"

"Back hurts."

"Weakling."

"Oh shut up." Lightning snapped, clenching her fists. "It's all your fault anyway!"

"My fault?" He frowned. "How is it my fault?"

"I got whipped to within an inch of my life because-" She paused. "Because I couldn't kill you."

"I thought they smothered you."

"The first time you _idiot_." She snarled. Noctis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. Right." He sighed. "Well, I didn't ask you not to kill me. Although I appreciate it."

"I know." The soldier wasn't talking to him, more to herself. The Prince watched her for a minute. Without a word, he sighed and headed into the bathroom.

He needed to think. And at least the bathroom was quiet.

* * *

Vanille slept and dreamed.

She dreamed of the crystal hunters that had come after her. She dreamt of meeting Snow and Lightning, becoming friends. She dreamt of the mission that had gone wrong, of Snow's betrayal. Fal'Cies, plots and pawns on a chessboard.

And something in the pit of her stomach told her that neither Phoenix, nor the fal'Cie were finished yet.

* * *

Lightning was sitting on the edge of the bed. Nervous and out of place, she waited for Noctis to come back.

She loathed being left alone with nothing to do. Nothing to start, to finish, because then her mind started wandering. And she hated it when her mind started wandering, because that's when she started drifting back.

That's when she thought the most about Serah. And how she failed.

Lightning felt into a pocket in her jacket and pulled out the photo. Creased, soft and faded with age. But it was all she had left of her sister.

Her dad had sold the necklace. He sold all of her sisters' clothes and possessions for money. And she hadn't done a thing about it. Just sat and watched, too scared and numb to do anything.

Her sister had died, and it was her fault. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she shouldn't have let her wander off.

"Why did you hate us that much...?" Lightning muttered, looking down at the photo.

"What?" Noctis had re-entered the room without her noticing.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing – What's that?" He plucked the photo from her hands before she could react.

"Give that back _**right now**_!" The assassin was on her feet in an instant, fists clenched and ready to fly.

"Shush!" The Prince placed a finger on her lips. "You're in the middle of the castle, remember?" A frown. "... Who's that?"

"My sister." Lightning took the opportunity to snatch the photo back and return it to her pocket.

"You never mentioned a sister."

"It's not important." She stared at the floor.

"Your sister isn't important?"

"She's gone." The soldier shut her eyes for a moment.

"You mean dead." Noctis asked. She stayed silent for a few minutes.

"You think I'm stupid not to trust people." She eventually said, sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "You don't understand why I refuse to do it. So I'll explain. But you won't like it."

"You don't have-" He was silenced by a shake of her head. He hesitantly sat down next to her.

"When Serah was born, I promised myself I'd look after her." Lightning began quietly. "I was her big sister, it was my duty. My mother left when I was two, just a few weeks after Serah was born. My grandmother used to come and look after us, but she died when I was six. By then, I was used to looking after her. I pretty much ran the house; my dad didn't really care about us much. He gave us some money, but most of it went to paying off his gambling debts... and making new ones. But Serah and I looked after each other. Well," The soldier shrugged. "I guess Serah looked after me. I always got into fights."

"You're not too different now." He chuckled lightly, stopping the second she glared at him.

"_Funny_."

"Sorry." He lay back on the bed and watched her.

Lightning harrumphed and looked away for a minute. She sighed and lay back onto the bed too, choosing to stare up at the ceiling.

"One night, when I was about twelve, some men broke into our house. They were loan sharks, people our father had been borrowing money from – But he hadn't paid a penny back. They came into our room and beat us up as a warning. They said if he didn't find a way of paying the money, they'd rip us apart."

She shut her eyes in an attempt to stop them stinging. Next to her, Noctis had gone very still, but she barely noticed.

"About a week later..." The soldier faltered, before taking a breath and plunging on. "We were messing about in the park, just having some fun. I stopped paying attention for a moment and she was gone. I searched everywhere, but I never saw her again – Only her necklace. The police found her dumped up by the railway tracks. She'd been strangled." An awkward pause passed as he searched for words and she tried to calm down.

Noctis remained silent, choosing to wrap an arm around her shoulder. Lightning squeezed her eyes shut and dug her nails into her palm, trying to distract herself from the tears that were starting to fall.

"It was the worst day of my life. I couldn't function for weeks." She took in a shaky breath and sighed. "I didn't realise that _they_ were keeping a low profile. I didn't realise that was their warning. Not until another two years had passed. They visited my dad again demanding more money, telling him... They'd killed one daughter; they had no issues killing the other. He said he didn't care; it was one less mouth to feed. So I ran."

Noctis pulled her gently into something that was similar to a hug. She was starting to shake now, the tears threatening to take over her completely.

"I ended up on the streets and stayed there for about a year. But I couldn't take it, I kept thinking about Serah, about how it was my fault. I knew they'd come after us, but I let her wander off and now she was dead. I didn't have a purpose, a prospect, a future. I wanted out, and that's exactly what I tried to do. Snow found me, brought me to Phoenix for treatment and... Well, they gave me a purpose, so I took it."

Her face was buried in Noctis' shirt, which was absorbing the tears flowing from her eyes. It was the first time she'd talked about Serah. It tore lumps out of her whenever she thought about it, and as for talking about it...

"I hate him." She sobbed. "And I – I killed her! I didn't pay attention, I never..."

"Lightning, you didn't kill her." Noctis muttered, rubbing her back. "That wasn't you. It wasn't your fault."

"I was meant to look after her."

"It wasn't your job to look after her. You tried-"

"But I failed." The woman took a deep breath to calm down. "That's what you're saying."

"I never said you failed." He started as she pulled away, deliberately not looking at him.

"That's what you meant. I failed. I failed in looking after Serah and I failed in my attempts to kill you."

"That's not what I meant-"

"Whatever." Lightning turned on her side away from the Prince. The dead air between them was extremely heavy, as Noctis gradually became more irritated.

"Lightning. In case you haven't noticed, I am risking my own life to save yours. I'm not sure why I'm doing it, but I'm helping you. So _stop_ twisting everything against me whenever I open my mouth!"

Another pause.

"Sorry." The assassin sighed and wiped her eyes. "I just... I wish I didn't have to rely on you."

"I rather wish that too." He paused before gently tugging her back into an embrace. "But it's too late. I'm getting you somewhere safe." For a strong woman, she had a rather petite yet tall frame.

"And then," Lightning's voice was muffled somewhat as her face was pressed against his shoulder. "You'll leave."

"Yes."

"And I'll never see you again."

"... That's right." A small frown marred the Prince's features as the words fell out of his mouth.

Once he had left her in Astrum, she would be out of his life for good. He had been certain that had been what he wanted. Or at least, what he should want. Now though, he wasn't that sure.

* * *

_My head aches. So do my eyes, they feel like they're on fire – Are they changing? Flickering? Perhaps that's why the hurt._

_Maybe I should rest them, the light can make them hurt more. That's not a bad idea. Just to shut my eyes for a moment..._

* * *

_Why can't he say anything?_

_For a country that is permanently cold, their prince is surprisingly warm. Both as a person and his actual body temperature. It's odd, being this close to someone. Slightly uncomfortable, but reassuring – He's breathing very heavily..._

_He's fallen asleep._

_I don't think I'll be sleeping very well tonight..._

**THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALINE THISISALI-**

**... So yeah... XD**

**That _should_ be the end of heavy Lightning angst for the foreseeable future, thank God. Man, why'd I make this story so hard to write...? T.T**

**And yes, Fang is making an appearance! I'm still undecided about Hope. I'd like to put him in, but I have no idea how...**

**Okay, quick announcement: This is the year 2010 - By the way, Happy New Year! - Which is the year I am sitting my GCSE's. Specifically, in May. Or is it June? :/  
Anyway, the point is, now that I'm back at school, I am going to be revising like mad, and doing coursework, and then revising, then being told by my teachers how I'm doing shit but well at the same time, and then revising, and then - I'm just ranting now.**

**The point is, I have no idea how much time I'm going to have for fanfiction. So - This applies for _everything_ - Updates are going to be completely and utterly random. I might upload two oneshots in a week, and then nothing for a month. Utter chaos. Please bear with me - I promise, once my GCSE's are over, I'll try and update regularly... ish.**

**Eh, you lot know what I'm like. Man, this is a long author's note...**

**It's snowing here! Well, snowy-ice. Like this snow ice mutant that....... Why do I always update in the middle of the night? -Slams head on desk-**

**Okay, I'll shut up now. Please review, and thanks for all the reviews I have recieved so far!**

**Peace out mo charas!**


	12. Chapter 12

School and emotional breakdowns. Sorry this has taken me so long. Good thing is that I've pretty much finished all of my coursework, so I might have some free time... I hope, I pray.

**Sorry, I'm not in a great mood right now. Been a bit down lately, so sorry if this isn't great.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it. However, in just over two weeks, I will own a copy of Final Fantasy XIII, so yay!**

* * *

Vanille woke up and looked around the barren storage room, littered with boxes. A quick glance around confirmed her suspicions.

Lightning had gone.

With a small grumble she curled onto her side and started to drift back to sleep. Typical. She always wandered off in the middle of the night. At least she came back by dawn...

That's when it hit her. They were in the middle of a country where she was very high up on their wanted list. And she had gone off in the middle of the night.

Vanille groaned and rubbed her forehead. Being friends with Lightning was enough to give you an ulcer.

* * *

Lightning couldn't sleep.

There were several reasons for this. One was the position she was in was rather uncomfortable, with her neck bent at an odd angle. The second was that the night temperature was below zero and she was lying on top of the covers. Ultimately, she was unhappy at the current situation – She hated the idea of people being able to watch her sleep, never mind being so close to someone while she was at her lowest state of awareness.

The Prince snored into her ear. She flinched, and shifted her head away from his nose. Prince Charming this man was not, the assassin smirked, trying to keep herself amused. Over his shoulder, she could just about make out the positions of the hands of the clock in the dim moonlight.

_That one seems to be longer... the one at ten, and the shorter is either at one or two... maybe three._

It was a long night so far, and she had even longer to follow.

Lightning sighed and glanced at Noctis, the tiniest of smiles working its way onto her face. Her hand hesitantly rose up and gently stroked his hair; slightly surprised at the roughness under her fingers. Tiny hairs slid under her short, bitten nails as her smile slowly spread.

He muttered in his sleep and her hand sprung away from his scalp. The assassin sighed and tried to slip into a slightly more comfortable position.

* * *

"Kings?"

"Go fish."

Felix sighed and picked up a card from the small pile on the table. "I hate Go Fish."

"Well what do you suggest we play?" Lexus glanced at Felix over his cards, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Blackjack?"

"Blackjack is a stupid game." Placido commented from the safety of his chair, where he was pretending to sleep.

"Go Fish is stupid_er_."

"I don't care, I'm not playing." He smirked slightly and went back to pretending to sleep in order to be left alone. Felix responded by throwing the ace of clubs at him. "Is this your cunning plan? To give me a paper cut?"

"Something like that."

"You should get some sleep."

"Yes mother."

"Felix," Placido gave up even attempting to look somewhat asleep and sat up. "You have got stitches. Because a woman shot you. Maybe you should sleep?"

"Maybe I don't care about your opinion?"

"Cheerful, aren't we?" Lexus snickered, and put his cards down. "What's eating you blondie?"

"Nothing!"

"It wouldn't happen to be related to a pig-tailed woman, would it?" Placido was smirking from his position on the chair.

"Shut up!"

"I think it is." The scarred added his opinion. "And gimme your Queens."

"Damn you."

* * *

Fang stepped into Tenebrea with a smirk on her face. She didn't attempt to blend into the shadows. That wasn't the way she worked. If she looked as eccentric as possible, people would ignore her.

All she needed to do was wait for the opportune moment and then she'd strike. Simple. Just like hunting.

The rumours were abound of course. That Lightning was still alive, and had abandoned Phoenix. And that she had taken Vanille with her...

The smirk grew wider. This could be an extremely interesting mission.

* * *

Dawn came slowly but early in Tenebrea. The first few streaks of light shone onto the prince's eyelids, which fluttered rapidly in response. After a minute or so of resistance, Noctis finally relented and woke up with a sigh.

He glanced down and started slightly upon seeing Lightning.

"You're a bad sleeper."

"What...?" Noctis frowned as his sleep-drenched brain attempted to process the information.

"You snore."

"Oh. Sorry." He blinked at the woman. "You look dreadful. As in, you had no sleep dreadful."

"Like I said, you snore." She sighed and glanced away.

"Oh. Right. Well..." He shrugged. "You can always sleep on the journey to Astrum."

"I don't need sleep."

"Sure." Noctis grinned and ran a hand through his hair, trying to put his finger on the thought that was niggling at the back of his mind.

"I've learnt to manage without it." Lightning propped herself up on her elbows and frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin-"

_You're in the palace with a wanted woman._

"-Crap." The Prince bolted off his bed; ran over to the window and began inching it open.

"What?!" She was behind him in less than a second.

"We're in the palace." He began to explain, before getting cut off.

"Have you only _just_ realised that?"

"Ha ha, you're so witty. They'll be coming to get me soon." Noctis cursed as he pulled harder on the window. "For pity's sake... open!"

"They?"

"Some servant probably. Just to make sure that I'm here and actually awake."

"A young male with loud shoes?" A note of worry had entered her voice now.

"Maybe, why?" He paused in his cursing of the window to hear footsteps echoing in the corridor. "Damn!" Lightning grabbed hold of the window and tugged on it as well. It jerked open, and in the time it took him to blink, she had clambered out of the window and out of sight.

Noctis breathed out and allowed the mist to form around his eyes as the door creaked open.

"Your highness...?" The servant placed his head around the corner. "Oh! You're awake!"

"Yeah." He kept his gaze out of the window. "You can go now."

"Your uncle has a message for you, your highness."

"Great..." He grumbled under his breath. The servant shifted his weight between his feet.

"I beg your pardon your highness?"

"What's the message?"

"There is meeting tonight, and your attendance is required."

"I can't make it." A long silence ensued. "... I presume he doesn't require my attendance, he _orders_ it."

"That is correct your highness. He is very insistent." The servant paused. "It is at seven pm, in the council hall at the Senate Building."

"_Fine._" The Prince practically snarled. "Tell him I'll be there." Another pause. "Well go then!" A few hurried footsteps and a door slamming shut. Noctis breathed out irritated and massaged his temples.

"That was rude, even from my perspective." He blinked.

"Lightning, where the hell are you?"

"Above your window." To prove this point, two legs instantly swung down, almost hitting him in the face.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Yes. Now get away from the window so I can get back in." The Prince sighed and stepped back. He noted to himself how quickly he had become used to Lightning ordering things instead of asking politely. She swung back into the room and sat on the windowsill.

"So." She shrugged. "What now?"

"What do you mean, what now?" Noctis frowned. "Now, nothing." He noticed a slight flash of confusion pass over her face.

"But you said that you could get Vanille to Astrum-"

"It would take a full day to get there, never mind getting back – If we're going to go, it's not today." The confusion quickly turned to anger as her face hardened.

"I'm right. What's the point in trusting people-"

"For God's sake Lightning, I'd rather get you and Vanille away from here than go to some useless meeting!" He paused as she turned her face away and let out a noise of irritation.

"Whatever."

"Bloody hell!" He cursed fluently under his breath and grabbed his coat, fumbling through the pockets. "Never mind driving a person to drink, you're driving me to nicotine." He turned around to see the window wide open, and no trace of the assassin.

* * *

Vanille wasn't great at the whole blending in thing. Particularly in a city like Tenebrea, where she guessed she looked like a person who had escaped from the carnival.

This wasn't her wisest plan by any measure, but it was the only one she could think of. Lightning had vanished, and she wasn't leaving for Astrum unless she was dragging the assassin along kicking and screaming.

She was her best friend, and she wasn't going to leave her behind. Even if she was a stubborn cow at times – That didn't change anything.

The young girl kept her head up and a dignified air around her. Her grandmother had told her that the best way to make people believe you belonged was to pretend that you did. And then they'd believe it. And sure enough, not as many people were staring at her. She bit back a grin.

Still no sign of the pink haired woman anywhere. Vanille turned a corner – And stopped dead in the street.

Walking down the pavement towards her was a woman she'd hoped she'd never see again. A woman who had ripped her life apart. A traitor who hurt everything she cared about, and her appearance now couldn't be good. She stepped back quickly, but somehow she sensed her.

Greenish eyes locked onto her, and a smirk appeared on the woman's face.

Oerba Yun Fang.

Without thinking about what blending in, standing out, whatever; Vanille ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She stumbled, ran into people, knocked things over, but she didn't care.

Fang had betrayed the Oerba tribe several times until her own mother had demanded she be pushed out of the tribe. She had bullied Vanille horribly since they were little kids. And she had joined Phoenix.

Phoenix.

Vanille nearly skidded to a halt. Phoenix was here, in Tenebrea. They knew Lightning was alive, and they wanted her dead. And now Fang knew she was here... things were going terribly wrong.

She sprinted back to the warehouse.

* * *

_Maybe that was wrong of me..._

Lightning sighed and glanced around the alley. It was mostly deserted, apart from a stray cat sniffing at a bin.

Noctis had let her down – He'd promised they could get out today, and even if it wasn't his fault, it still pissed her off.

The cat twisted itself around her legs. She glanced down and sighed.

"I gotta move cat." It stayed where it was. "Oh for...." With a tiny growl she picked it up. It responded by licking her fingers. "I don't have any fish on me. Sorry cat." It continued licking her fingers, even when she placed it back on the ground.

The assassin sighed and tapped the cat with her foot, making it move off. Maybe that's what she was in the end. A stray cat, abandoned by those around it. Selfish, arrogant.

She growled and slammed her fist into the wall. Damn it, why was she thinking like that?

"Cut off your heart." She hissed. "Act with your body and your brain. That's all. Feelings don't come into it. Don't feel sorry for him!"

With a long, slow breath out, she continued on her way back to the warehouse.

* * *

"Where the hell did you get that from?"

Noctis growled and looked up at his friends. "Doesn't matter."

"Give me that." Lexus snatched the cigarette out of his fingers before the Prince could react. "We need to hold an intervention for you."

"Sure, sure, an intervention." He pulled the pack out of his pocket, which was slapped out of his hands. "Just leave me alone!"

"Can't." Placido was the one who spoke up. "Your uncle basically told us if we didn't get you to attend this war conference tonight, he'd fire each one of us."

"I'm your employer. Not him."

"He's the king, he could fire the person who made his toothpaste tube!" Felix grinned. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. I'll phone Vanille and explain about the whole Astrum thing."

"No," Noctis shook his head. "You three go to the warehouse, pick them up, and take them to Astrum. I'll be fine on my own for a while."

"But Noct-"

"Lightning was here." He explained sharply, earning a few raised eyebrows. "I told her I couldn't get her and Vanille to Astrum today, and she was... irritated."

"She's permanently irritated." The scarred man pointed out.

"More importantly...." Felix sat next to Noctis on the bed and flung an arm around the Prince's shoulders. "What was she doing here, in your bedroom?"

_... Please tell me Felix did not just insinuate what I think he just insinuated._

The blonde winked.

_Oh yes, he did._

"No!" The Prince wriggled out of his friends' grip. "No, no and definitely-" He was pulled into a headlock. "I didn't... do... anything like that! She just stayed the night-"

"She stayed the night?" Placido leant forwards with a slight frown on his face. He pushed his glasses higher up onto the bridge of his nose.

_Etro, please save me from my friends._

"She got lost and.... oh, it's a long story! Just get her out of Tenebrea!" He snapped. "And let _go of my head Felix!_"

"I got it." Lexus dragged the blonde into a headlock.

"One condition." Felix choked out, while hitting the larger man's arms feebly. "You give us your cigarettes, and lighter."

"Cigarettes yes, lighter no." The group glared at him. "It's my lighter, I might need it if... I need to start a fire." Placido sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're not taking my lighter!"

"Fine, fine, fine." Lexus snatched the cigarettes out of Noctis' jacket with his free hand. "We'll go find them... but we want the full story when we come back."

"Yes father."

_Wack!_

"Ow."

* * *

Lightning was expecting anger, exasperation, and possibly some laughter from Vanille about her midnight disappearance.

She was not expecting to see her friend in sheer panic.

"There you are!" The pig-tailed girl was a frenzy of activity. "Oh, hurry _up_ Light, we've got to move!"

"What are you talking about?" The assassin walked over to her friend, who now seemed to be hyperventilating. "Vanille, calm down. Vanille!" She grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and shook her. "What's going on!?"

"I saw her! I swear Light, I saw her, and-"

"Saw who?" Lightning frowned and dug her nails into Vanille's shoulders. "Vanille, who did you see?"

"Fang!" She wriggled out of the assassin's grip. "I saw Fang, and she saw me, on the street! If she finds you, you're dead!"

Lightning snorted. "I bet I could take her."

"You'd bet your life?" The pig-tailed girl grabbed her own rod and stared into the older woman's eyes. "Please, let's just go!"

"...We were going to go anyway." The assassin glanced around quickly. "Did she follow you here?"

"I don't know, I was just running." She shrugged. "Sorry..."

"Too late now." Lightning turned back the way she came. "Astrum's to the west, right?"

* * *

Noctis played with his lighter as he sat in the study. It was old, musty, and smelt like exceedingly old paper.

Since it was full of said old paper, it was probably not the best place to be playing with a lighter.

_Flick._

He glanced down at all the old documents on the crystals, the Goddess Etro, fal'cie and the l'cie.

He sighed and re-read the same sentence on the Goddess Etro he had been reading for the past hour.

_A goddess who sings a song of lament for the dead. _

It made her sound kind. A person who cared about those who entered her realm.

Yeah, right. The Prince snorted and turned his attention to another page, the page about the l'cie.

_Those chosen by the fal'cie for a greater destiny._

"Nice way of cushioning the blow..." He sighed and flicked his lighter on and off again. "Greater destiny my...."

He wouldn't see her again. Even if he wanted to... which he didn't. Of course he didn't.

He sighed and slammed the lighter down onto the table. There were times when he hated being a prince.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"Don't worry Felix, you'll see your pigtailed beloved soon."

"Shut. Up."

"Nope." Lexus grinned. "This is far too entertaining."

"Look, she's cute, that's all."

"Yeah, we know you Felix. You never can resist a cute face..." Placido parked the car outside the warehouse. Felix stumbled out of the car, much to Lexus' amusement.

"Can't wait to see her, huh?" The blonde responded by rugby tackling the older, stronger man.

This was what led to Felix being dragged into the warehouse in a headlock, and from his low viewpoint, he was unable to understand why Placido suddenly cursed.

"What's going on?" He asked as the larger man released him from the headlock.

"They're gone." Placido looked around.

"We are..." Felix fell silent as he tried to think of the right word. "...**so** shitted."

"It's not our fault."

"Doesn't mean we're not screwed." Placido reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I'm going to phone Noctis. You guys try and find them, and fast."

* * *

_Damn it!_

_Bloody impatient woman! She never stops and thinks, she just charges straight in there. I do one wrong thing, and she runs off. Does she even know where Astrum is?_

_What happens if she gets captured? Or hurt? Bet she didn't even think about that. Too arrogant, that's her problem. Maybe it's mine too._

_I hope she's alright._

* * *

_There's something missing._

_This bench is giving me splinters in the back of my knees, which is hardly helping me concentrate. Vanille's still in a panic. Damn Fang, has to show up and make everything twice as hectic. Bitch._

_But why is she here? I thought Phobos would have wanted to deal with me personally..._

_Unless we're not what she's here for. Unless we're just collateral damage..._

_She's here to kill Noctis._

_Oh Christ. I've got to warn him – But if I go back and get caught by her or Tenebrea... and I've got to protect Vanille._

_But I can't just leave him, can I?_

_Oh God, what do I do?_**Next update will be God knows when. Damn GCSE's.**

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews so far, but please review this chapter as well!**

**And I love you all to pieces. Seriously. -Hugs all of you-**

**Peace out mo charas!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi there amigos! Prepare for a long author's note. Grab some popcorn or something.**

**Firstly, shock and horror, I updated! Secondly, add to the shock and horror, it's a double update! You can thank Dawn . Fire . Angel for that. Did you know it was possible to scream at people over MSN? Well, it is. And she does it spectacuarly well. Kidding, I love ya really Dawn!**

**Thirdly, one of the reasons that this is a double update is because my GCSE exams start in... 15 days. My birthday is also in fifteen days, -.-**

**But that's besides the point. The point is, sadly, no more time for fanfiction, so I thought I'd give you guys a lovely big update to chew on while I was away.**

**Also, forgive me for any typos, it is eight minutes past one in the morning, and I am fucking shattered.**

**Oh yeah! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE REVIEWS! Seriously, when I first saw that, I started screaming with joy. Then my mum told me to shut up because she was on the phone. -.-**

**Nevertheless, THANK YOU!! *Gives all reviews cyber-cookies***

**Oh God, so tired. Oh yeah, last chapter I said that Noctis had to go to a meeting. Screw that, it's a conference thing... fuck, I dunno what it is. My brain isn't functioning properly.**

**And Stella makes her grand appearence! *Mauled* Ow. And hey, read before you judge me!**

**Disclaimer: I own a copy of Final Fantasy XIII. And screw the reviewers and flamers and haters, I bloody love it! No such luck with Versus XIII though, XD**

* * *

"Shouldn't we be running?" Vanille was utterly restless, pacing back and forwards in front of Lightning. "I mean, if she catches up with us-"

"I told you, she's not after us." She rubbed her forehead. "We don't need to hurry, we're not her main targets-"

"But we're still targets." The pigtailed girl flapped her arms in the air with frustration. "You say it yourself, a target's a target."

"If Fang is a decent assassin, she'll have learnt to prioritize." Lightning shrugged, crossing her arms. "If not, then Phoenix would have gotten rid of her long ago."

"But-"

"Vanille, stay calm." She commanded, giving the younger woman a mild girl. She fell silent, but continued to pace. "We've just got to think about what to do."

Vanille blinked. "I thought we were going to go to Astrum!" The girl stopped. "You mean... we're going to stay?"

The assassin looked calm on the surface, hiding the wrestling match in her brain. Her priority was Vanille, and getting out of here safely. Surely Noctis would be fine... he was too stubborn to die. Far too stubborn, her lips quirked slightly. However hard she tried to compress it though, that voice still nagged at the back of her skull.

"Of course we're going to Astrum." Lightning eventually said, the quirk of her lips turning into a smirk. "He can look after himself."

"What?" Vanille turned and stared at her friend. The assassin shook her head and walked away, with the young girl chasing to catch up with her.

* * *

_Knock knock._

Two quiet noises made the Prince of Tenebrea lift his head wearily from where he'd been resting it on the cool desk.

"What?" He grumbled, bringing up a hand to rest his head on. The door opened and a somewhat shy maid shuffled in.

"Begging your pardon, your highness," She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry for intruding, but it's the King, you see. He wants to speak to you. Um, privately, in his study."

"I see..." Noctis sighed and stood up stiffly, stretching as he did so. A quick glance at the clock startled him – Had he really been in here for over six hours? How had he not noticed? He shook his head and headed out of the door, informing the maid rather curtly that he knew where his uncle's private rooms were, and that there was no need for her to accompany him there.

Walking through the corridors, his thoughts refused to stay on one subject. They flittered and fluttered back and forth. His kingdom to his friends, his friends to his family, his family to the crystal, the crystal to Etro, from Etro to a certain assassin.

Lightning. The woman who was twisting his life around rapidly. The woman who he...

Noctis shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. He only wanted to help her; surely he didn't feel anything more towards her than friendship. Yet, when he paused and thought about her, his thoughts eventually led back to their stolen kisses. Her lips, not soft but not uncomfortable when pressed against his own. Quite the opposite in fact.

No, no, no. The Prince dug his nails into his palm. _Think of something else. Think of anything else. Think of this meeting tonight. What are you going to say? ... Oh Etro, what __**am**__ I going to say? Bugger. 'Hello, I am against the war in Pulse as I've been sheltering the assassin who started it all'? That would certainly be an attention-grabbing opening line, but I don't think it would go down particularly well._

Noctis was so engrossed in his thoughts, he barely realised he had reached his uncle's chambers. The young prince coughed and ran a hand through his hair, hoping it was staying somewhat flat. His uncle despised messy hair, saying it was a sign of impatience and lack of care for one's personal features. He also disapproved of Noctis' more casual clothes, saying that he had to present an image to the media. And t-shirts with skulls and crossbones were not a good image to be presenting.

_Into the circles of hell..._

He warily knocked on the door and waited for reply. He could hear papers shuffling, pens scratching, and a heavy sigh.

"Enter."

Noctis opened the door and stepped into the King's study, which was not dissimilar to his own. Dark, smelling heavily of paper; so full of dust you could see it levitating in the air, and it made Noctis question yet again what the cleaners in the palace actually _did_. Apart from make up a lot of untrue gossip.

"Ah. Noctis." The King clasped his hands together and rested his chin on them, observing Noctis from head to toe. "I need to talk to you."

"I guessed that." The comment earned a glare from Timeaus.

"This isn't a laughing matter."

"And that wasn't a joke." The Prince shot back, crossing his arms defensively. There was an awkward pause between the two men. Noctis often wondered how his uncle and his mother had managed to get along. His mother was impulsive and would run headlong into danger if she wanted to, his uncle thought every action through, weighing out each action's consequence.

"A guard sent me a report last night..." His uncle trailed off as he located a certain document. "Ah, yes. Apparently, you were smuggling an unknown woman into the palace." A slight pause as Timeaus lifted his head to meet his nephew's gaze.

_... Shit..._

"Care to explain?" He inquired, waving the report in the air slightly. Noctis blanched.

"Not really." He shoved his hands into his pockets and felt a few hairs pop out of place. Perfect.

"Noctis Lucis Caelum." The King leant forwards on his desk, slamming the offending papers onto the desk. "Explain this, now."

"It's not any of your business." The Prince muttered, feeling a large confrontation brewing. "She didn't cause any problems."

"Noctis, in case you have forgotten while you were gallivanting around with those lunatics you call friends," The older man stood up, clearly agitated. "We are in the middle of a war. Not that long ago, one of our councillors was shot dead, and his assassin is still on the run. So I do feel that inviting a strange girl into the palace is 'my business'."

The Prince flinched, a dam of guilt exploding in his gut. Councillor Vere. The man who had been killed by Lightning, who he had completely forgotten about.

"I was just..." He trailed off. "Trying to help her."

"I understand that." His Uncle sat back down, a sense of restrained calm entering the atmosphere. "But now is not the time to be reaching out to strangers. Besides, what would the media think if they got wind of this?"

"I don't particularly care, to be honest."

Timeaus sighed and rubbed his temples. "Well, unfortunately, an awful lot of people who _aren't_ you; they _do_ care." He leant back slightly in his chair. "For example, the

Fleuret family-"

"I'm not marrying her!" Noctis instantly protested. "Stella is a perfectly nice person, but I do not want to marry her. Not now, not in two years, not in ten years, not in twenty years, not ever."

The King sighed, his expression verging between exasperation and irritation. "You need to marry someone."

"Why should I? You never did!"

"Noctis." Timeaus glanced at his nephew wearily. "We have had this discussion many times. The line of rulers that has kept this country stable ends with you. It is one of your duties to continue it. And continue it you must."

* * *

"So there's a big meeting tonight, with lots of dignitaries?"

"Um, yeah."

"Oh, perfect."

Oerba Yun Fang smirked and licked her lips in anticipation. There was nothing she enjoyed more than pissing off as many high up people as she could. If anyone got in her way tonight, she'd rip them apart.

The young informant looked a little worried. Some orphan, stupid name like 'dream' or 'wish' or 'hope'. Something like that, not that it particularly worried her. Phoenix had planted him in the palace as a trainee mechanic. Bit of a wimp in Fang's opinion, but that was played to his advantage – A coward like him would never be suspected of being a spy.

"Why is it perfect?" He asked, a small frown on his face. "More important people means more security, which means more work for you."

"More security means more fights." Fang grinned. "Which means more fun for me."

"Oh." The boy blinked. "If you say so."

"Of course I say so." She eyed the boy up and down. "You worked the streets lately?"

"Urm..." He fiddled with his scarf. "Not really."

"I'm looking for a woman with ginger hair, pigtails, and a load of beads. You hear of anyone like that, phone me and give me the details. Clear?"

"Sure." He blinked. "But why do you-"

"Strictly need to know. Keep an eye out for that Lightning bitch too." The assassin walked away. "See ya mate."

_Mate?_ Hope pondered. Did that mean Fang was his... friend? Ally? Comrade? Which exactly? Shaking his head in confusion, the silver haired teen vanished into the city's crowds, beginning his hunt.

* * *

It was raining, heavily. The wind was racing through the streets, and Vanille was hiding in the bus shelter, her face buried into her hands.

Lightning on the other hand, was standing out in the rain, reading the timetable. "Vanille, I'm telling you, we'll have to walk."

"We've got gil." She protested, wincing as another explosion of thunder rattled through the city. "I hate thunderstorms."

"It's nothing to be scared of." The soldier frowned and ran a finger down the timetable, using the dim street lights and explosions of her namesake to read it.

"That's alright for you to say. You're named after them!"

"Hmph." The assassin paused, re-reading the timetable before cursing. "The next bus doesn't leave for another four days!" In frustration, she kicked the pole. "Stupid bloody country!" She ran her fingers through her wringing wet hair. "We've got to walk."

"But the thunder..." Vanille began, pausing as the sky seemed to crackle once again. "Ooooh!"

"It's only electricity."

"You can die from electricity!" The tribeswoman protested. "Can't we at least wait until the storm passes?"

Lightning growled. "Fine. Damn your astraphobia."

Unknown to either of them, a certain silver haired boy was watching them from within the safety of an alley. With fingers trembling from the icy wind, he picked up the phone and dialled.

"Fang? I've found them."

* * *

Stella Nox Fleuret ran a hand through her hand, ripping apart any knots she found. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in thought.

She was meant to mourn Councillor Vere while sniffing out for information on his assassin. Oh yes. Her parents didn't trust the Caelum family one bit. They were of the belief that they were covering things up. Especially Prince Noctis, the 'little upstart' who they were desperate for her to marry.

Sometimes, her parents just didn't make any sense.

"Lady Fleuret," Her driver suddenly piped up from the front. "We're here. Do you want me to escort you in?"

"I have an umbrella." Stella smiled as she opened the front door, simultaneously sticking the umbrella out and opening it. With a tiny wave, she stepped out into the storm and slammed the door shut behind her.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

"I know it's Lightning." He said into the phone. "And the girls got pigtails and ginger hair like you said Fang. They said they're staying here for a while, so if you want to do something, hurry up."

"_I'd love to mate. Really I would, but this doo-ally is kicking off. I'll be there after I've knocked off his highness, keep an eye on them for me, 'kay?"_

"But Fang-" His protest was cut off as a hand grabbed his, wrestled the phone out of his grasp and threw it to the floor. "What the f-" Before Hope could finish he had been whisked off his feet, his back slamming into the wall.

And he came face to face with Lightning Farron. And boy, did she look pissed.

"You little brat." She hissed, tightening her grip on his arms. Hope could feel the bruises start to form under her fingers. "I swear to God, I'll kill you right now."

"I... I..." Hope gulped and squirmed under the woman's excruciatingly painfull grip. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other woman arrive, pigtails bobbing in time with her running.

"Lightning!" The pigtailed girl arrived next to them. "Leave him alo-"

"He's working with _Fang_ Vanille." Although she was talking to the other woman – Vanille – The assassin's eyes never left Hope's face. "You really want to just let him walk away?"

"But... he's just a kid!"

"So?" She tightened her grip on his shoulders. "He's going to get us killed." The boy shuddered in a mixture of fear, pain and bitter cold.

"He's a kid." Vanille protested yet again. "Maybe... he could help us." Hope waited for the other's response, feeling her nails dig in harder. After a moment or so, her grip loosened, still strong but not as painful.

"Tell me everything about Fangs' plans."

* * *

"Go left!"

"No, right!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"I said left first!"

"When you said it doesn't matter. It's whether it's right or not that matters, and right is the right way!"

"Exactly, and the right way is the wrong way, so we should go left!"

"Felix, that made no sense at all."

"It's your fault for giving me the opening."

"Will you two," Placido asked, gritting his teeth together tightly. "Both, kindly, _shut the hell up _before I shove this steering wheel somewhere unholy?"

"Sorry." Felix grinned like a cat who had got the cream, drank it and was very pleased with himself; and sprawled across the front seat. "But left is right."

"No it's not, left is left, and that's wrong."

"No, it's right."

"Wrong!"

"Right!"

"That's just what I said, right!"

"No, left is right!"

"For Etro's sake!" The driver gripped the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles nearly popped out of his fists. "You two are going to have me driving around in circles!"

"We aren't that far from a roundabout actually." Lexus pointed out, earning a reflected pointed glare courtesy of Placido and the rear-view mirrors. "Just sayin'."

"Hey, Lightning's mugging a kid!" Felix suddenly announced, before winding down the car window and sticking his head out. "Pfft! Damn rain. _OI LIGHTNING, ARE YOU THAT DESPERATE FOR SOME SWEETIES?!_"

"For the love of...!" Leaning forwards, Lexus managed to grab the scruff of Felix's jacket and tug him backwards as Placido pulled up. "Genius mate, really. Piss off a woman who's already shot you!"

"Exactly. The laws of averages say that she won't shoot me again."

"The laws of averages don't say anything like that!" Lexus glanced outside the vehicle and raised an eyebrow. "More importantly, the look on her face doesn't say anything like that."

"Great job Felix." Placido sighed. Keeping a calm air around himself like a cloak, he pulled off his glasses, wiped the steam off the inside, and replaced them, pushing them slightly further up his nose to make sure they'd stay in place. "Let's keep a certain degree of self respect people-"

_"HEY VANILLE!!" _The blonde had already run out of the car and was heading towards the pigtailed girl. The two older men exchanged glances with each other before Lexus spoke.

"... Felix and self respect don't really go in the same sentence." He shrugged and exited the car to see Lightning both yelling at Felix while keeping a tight grip on the silver haired teen's collar.

"You nearly made me lose him you imbecile!" She screeched. "Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't drop kick your ass into the sun!"

"Um... You shouldn't mug little kids?" Felix stuttered. A very dangerous look came into Lightning's eyes. "Never mind, carry on with your illegal activities."

"Can't you let me go now?" The teen piped up. "I've told you everything I know!"

"Everything he knows about what?" Lexus asked, switching his glances between Lightning and Hope.

"Well-"

"No, Vanille." The soldier shoved the teen towards her. "Keep an eye on the kid-"

"My name is Hope." He interrupted. Lightning shot him a glare before continuing.

"-The kid, I'll be back in a bit."

"You're not-" Vanille's attempt at a question was cut short by Lightning pinching her arm, hard. "Ow! That hurt!"

"We're meant to be getting you to Astrum." Placido pointed out, getting the uneasy feeling that this conversation was not going to end well.

"Fine. I will go with you to Astrum, once I have finished up some other things here."

"But you – OW! Lightning, stop pinching my arm!" The pigtailed girl protested yet again, rubbing her arm.

"I will be back. In a little while."

"Noct said to get you to Astrum ASAP." Lexus narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke. The assassin was already starting to walk away.

"I don't give a damn what he said. I'll be back in a while." And before anyone else could protest, Lightning's walk had turned into a sprint and she had seemingly vanished.

Hope was the one who broke the pregnant pause. "She's going after Fang, isn't she?"

"I guess so." Vanille bit her fingernails and growled slightly. "Oooooh...!"

"Who's Fang?"

"She's the person who's going to try and kill your Prince." The silver haired teen couldn't help but derive a tiny bit of amusement out of the faces of the shocked men. Sometimes, it was worth being able to keep huge secrets for the little moments like this.

* * *

_Damn it, if one more person asks me about my opinions on the war, I'm going to hit something. Probably them._

_So tempting. Got to get out of this place... no fire escapes here though. That room looks quite. Anything to get me away from here._

* * *

_Why am I doing this again? It's ridiculous. Noctis is not a baby. He is a grown man, and he is perfectly capable of looking after himself._

_Yeah, but he's not expecting an attack. He thinks he's just got to go to this stupid thing, and say a few things. What if she gets one over on him? You would have known all along, and it would have been one more life on your hands._

_One more life added to the numerous others already there? So what? He's gonna die eventually, get over it._

_But I don't want him to die. I really don't... Wait, no. That's stupid. I'm not... I mean, it isn't... I just care about him. He's been good to me and Vanille, that's all. Whatever it is, I am most definitely not... that._

_And now is not the time to think about it. Now is the time to act._

* * *

**Long author's note next chapter! I know you guys can't wait, XD**


	14. Chapter 14

**Something I meant to put in the last chapter's author's notes but didn't: Fanille fans may not like this much. For which I apologize. I have nothing against the pairing, but it really, really, really wouldn't have worked in this story.**

**Oh yes, and this story contains a really badly written fight scene. No, I can't write fight scenes. Hell, the last fight scene I wrote was in chapter three.. eleven chapters ago.**

**I think I'm about to colapse from exhaustion... see previous chapter for disclaimer.**

* * *

"Halt! Who goes there?" Leon raised his gun and pointed it into the darkness. He was certain he had heard something move. He would have put a fiver on it, if there was anyone around to make bets with. There was no response, but – Again, he could see movement. "I said halt! Who goes there?" Still, no response was forthcoming. "Halt! Who-"

"Alright mate, keep your hair on!" A woman stepped out of the darkness, a grin on her face. "Lower that gun a bit, you'll blow someone's face off. Probably mine." She added as an afterthought. Leon kept his gun upright. Normally, when someone told you to lower your gun, it wasn't because they were scared of getting shot.

"Who're you?" He asked, keeping the gun level at the woman's torso. "You have no right to be here."

"I have every right." Her grin grew a little wider, and a little bit more feral. "Outta my way please."

"I'll escort you away." He began. Her grin suddenly turned into a snarl.

"You won't do anything of the sort!" In a movement that was as natural to her as breathing, she pulled her spear out of its holder, and rammed it into his stomach, then swung it up to connect with his jaw and knock him out. She picked up his machine gun, just in case. He was unarmoured, she noted.

_Pity for him._

One quick and strong movement to stab him through the stomach, and then Oerba Yun Fang moved on.

* * *

Noctis headed up the stairs, already irritated by the councillors and their never ending interfering. One more question, just one more, and he wouldn't be responsible for his actions in a court of law, due to temporary insanity.

_Please may I find some peace and quiet..._

"Hello Noctis." The Prince sighed and rubbed his left temple.

"Stella, I've told you a million times. It's Noct." He looked at the woman, who just shrugged.

"It seems slightly disrespectful to just call you 'Noct'." She shrugged and smiled. "You are a prince after all."

"As if I could forget." Grumbling, he headed over to Stella. "If one more person asks me about this Pulse war, I'll do something very unbecoming of royalty."

Stella paused and watched the prince for a moment, clasping her hands together. This could be very tricky. Still, her parents expected it of her. After a moment or so to compose herself and to pick the correct angle to go from, she began to dig for information.

"I heard you weren't exactly ecstatic about it." She began, quickly continuing when she saw the Prince's eyes darken. "I'm not either. Just the idea of all those people dying. It doesn't seem right." A long silence ensued, only with the murmur of people talking from the main hall breaking it.

"No. It's not right." Noctis sighed and rested one hand on his hip, the other coming up to scratch his forehead. "It's just not fair."

"I sympathise. It must be so hard." She paused again before trying to find something, to make him slip up. "How is Felix?"

"Fine." The Prince sighed and sat down. "He's got stitches, but apart from that, fine."

"I heard," She glanced around before dropping her voice. "It was... _the_ assassin who did it."

Noctis' face hardened in less than a second. "Then you heard wrong." He said. "She had nothing to do with it."

"If you say so." Stella gave a tiny curtsy, her eyes scanning his posture and facial expression intently. Oh, he was lying through his teeth. That little tremor in his hands, that tiny bead of sweat on his forehead, his apparent fascination with carpeting.

"Are you any closer to finding her?"

"No. But we're still looking." Half a lie, she decided. She knew for a fact they were still looking, so... they were close to finding her. But that was a good thing, why lie about that? Maybe her powers of deduction weren't quite up to scratch.

* * *

There were guards at both the back and front entrances, but the side entrance seemed clear. However, on closer inspection, Lightning discovered that it was guarded. By a corpse.

"Damn." The assassin gripped her hair and tugged on it lightly. Fang was already ahead of her. The blood seemed fresh, suggesting that maybe she wasn't that far ahead. _Maybe_. Lightning hated that word. She preferred certainties.

Shaking her head clear of any distracting thoughts, she clambered over the protective gate and dropped down onto the ground. It was still raining enough to nearly make her lose her footing. Enough was enough. Clenching her fists, she raced towards the glistening building.

* * *

Fang was having fun. She'd coerced a waiter into giving her some champagne and nibbles before knocking him out and shoving him into an industrial bin. She'd encountered two more guards and slit their throats. Find the Prince, kill 'im, and then go after Little Miss Perfect. Etro, she hated Vanille. Always so perfect and happy, charming everyone around her. Making her, Oerba Yun Fang, the strongest woman in Oerba, look like a runt. Her! A _runt_!

Fang sighed and glanced around her. No dark haired Prince in sight. No guards either. She would have thought they'd be a little stricter on security, considering they were in the middle of a war and everything. Morons.

She headed off down the corridor, following the distant sound of talking. She'd find him eventually, just like a lioness stalking its' prey.

* * *

"So, Fang is an evil bitch who works for Phoenix."

"Yes."

"And she's going to kill Noctis."

"Yes."

"And Lightning's gone to stop her?"

"Yes."

"And she didn't let any of us know because...?"

"Because she's Lightning."

"... Great." Placido sighed and chucked two sachets of sugar into his cup of coffee. "That's just great."

The cafe was loud, cheap, and painful to be in, due to its' over garish decor, an eyeball-searing yellow with orange and red furniture. Naturally, Vanille insisted that if they were going to sit down to drink and discuss, they should sit down and eat here. The others had reluctantly agreed, especially when she pointed out it was nearest to the point Lightning had run off from.

"Any luck?" Vanille asked, turning to Felix, who was still trying to get in touch with Noctis.

"Nope. Won't pick up; he must have left it at home." The blonde sighed. "Brilliant. Noct's is in some stupid ball thing unaware that a psycho is coming to kill him!"

"She wasn't always a psycho." She muttered, staring down at her water. "She used to play with me when I was a baby. But then... well, we grew up."

"So? Growing up made her a psycho?" Lexus asked, keeping one eye on the teenage boy who seemed to be sulking in the corner.

"Fang was always loud and a bit wild. She called me Miss Sugar and Rainbows. She didn't like the fact that I was considered as good a hunter as her because of my magic. She didn't like the fact that I stopped hanging out with her, because I didn't want to break the rules. That's when she went really off the rails, and started beating people up. I guess it's kinda my fault." Vanille shrugged. "I'll never know."

None of the group spoke for a few moments, mulling over various thoughts in their heads. Felix was eventually the first to speak.

"I hope Noct's alright."

* * *

Noctis was tired. His head throbbed, his feet ached, and his mind was whirling, trying to keep up with the conversation he had been sucked into.

"Now you see," One featureless, suited man began to speak. "I blame it on the weather. You see, it's just too hot-"

"No, I have to disagree with you." Another man interrupted. Clearly his mother had had far better things to do than teach him manners. "It's the lack of foliage. They've got nowhere to hide, and that makes them nervous."

"My dear fellow, I have never heard of a nervous chocobo!"

Chocobos. They. Were. Arguing. About. Chocobos. The Prince blinked, stared at the empty champagne flute in his hand, and quickly excused himself to go and fill it up for the third time. He needed alcohol if he was going to get through this. He felt a little more relaxed already; hopefully another glass should sufficiently relax him to get through this without committing homicide.

He filled up the glass and swallowed it, quickly. A dribble ran down the side of his face, which he wiped away. He sighed, tapping a small tune on the glass with his finger. His thoughts swirled a little, bringing back _that_ face.

With all good luck and fortune, the others had caught up with her and Vanille and they were on their way to Astrum. And then he'd never see her again... His stomach seemed to fall away. Never again. That just seemed... well, horrible.

Noctis poured another glassful of champagne and downed that too. He didn't like where his thoughts were going. Not one bit. Yes, he cared about Lightning, but as a friend. And he'd be sad if he never saw a friend again. Yes, that was it.

He now felt a little unsteady on his feet. Perhaps his idea of solving his irritation with alcohol wasn't a great idea after all.

His sharp senses suddenly whirled into action, seeing rather than hearing the ripple of panic suddenly diffusing through the hall.

"An intruder! There's a murderer in the vicinity."

Noctis glanced down at the champagne flute. _Definitely_ not a good idea. Dropping it, he headed out of the hall and into the maze of corridors. He raced through them, trying to work out what was going on in his head.

_Assassin. Phoenix. They want __**me**__. So if I separate myself from the crowd, they should be safe. Unless the assassin is a raging psychopath. And from what I've heard, that's not unlikely. Shit. This is extremely bad. I wish I'd never touched that champagne._

* * *

Everyone was in a raving panic. Clearly, Fang had been spotted at some point. Which was fine for Lightning. The more people were panicking, the less likely she'd be spotted.

As quickly as possible, she put on her 'vulnerable, worried and scared' face. She hated it, but it worked very well. She slipped through the crowds with ease, her eyes scanning for a dark haired woman with a blood red spear. Nothing. No choice but to go deeper into the building, and pray that she was faster than Fang.

* * *

Spotted.

Fang saw him, making his way through the corridors, seemingly a little unsure of himself. _Snappy suit_, she thought, _nice for funeral_.

"Wait up Princy." She grinned and pattered after him, swinging her spear around. The Prince paused and turned around slowly. The wicked grin grew even more. "Nice to meet ya."

"You're the assassin." He stated flatly, keeping one red eye on her twirling weapon. "How many people have you killed so far?"

"In this place? Pfft. Five, six, seven." Fang raised an eyebrow. "You think you can guilt trip me into not killing you? Well, that may have worked on Miss Farron, but don't think for a second that's going to work on me."

"Lightning hasn't got anything to do with this." The Prince twitched his fingers, trying to focus enough to summon Somnus.

"You think you know her _so _well. But Lightning ain't even her name." Fang chuckled as she saw her target pause for a second. That was the opening she needed. Without a moment's hesitation, she flung herself at the Prince and slashed her spear at him. She had to give him some credit, his reactions were good. What could, and should, have been a lethal blow was only a flesh wound, due to his last second jump backwards.

Still, she was here to complete her job. Without a pause, she spun her spear so it smacked into the side of his jaw with enough force to stagger him. The Prince got his act together though, and summoned a sword to block her next attempt to stab him.

He countered with a good deal of strength, but Fang had her secret weapon. With one movement, her spear separated into two parts. One to keep his sword away from her, to other to stab and slash at him.

One of her frantic shots hit home, as he spear came away with a good enough coating of blood. Fang's eyes narrowed as she prepared to press home her advantage.

This action was stopped by the bullets that whirled past her shoulder. The assassin spun her head around to meet her new challenger's eyes.

Farron looked pissed.

Without a single word, the pink haired warrior raced towards her, switching her gun into a sword. Fang shrugged and slammed her elbow into the Prince's stomach, before reassembling her spear and bringing it up to meet Lightning's blow.

"Hey sunshine." She beamed at the former assassin. "How are ya?" Lightning responded with a dark scowl, and knocked Fang back. "Only saying hello."

And then she kicked Lightning as hard as she could, swinging her spear up to slash at the woman's throat. Lightning back flipped away from Fang, kicking at her spear as she did so.

Fang darted right at Lightning, slashing at her with long, strong and rapid moves, only to find each one parried. Another back flip gave the pink haired woman more breathing space, allowing her to stick one arm out and rain lightning bolts down on the assassin.

Fang cursed as she was struck. She hated the fact that, just because someone was blessed with better magic, it meant they could be just as good as her. Just like Little Miss Sugar and Rainbows.

Lightning's back was against the wall. She was in an extremely bad position if Fang was given a chance to attack, hence her complete focus on casting spell after spell. Fire, blizzard, thunder, water, whatever it was that could weaken Fang. The assassin staggered backwards, and Lightning took it as an opening, rushing forward and swinging the Blazefire Saber at her, her blade embedded with water. Fang blocked the first blow, but was hit by the next three, followed by two powerful kicks.

Fang winced, both her pride and her body battered and bruised. "Where's Vanille?"

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "You really expect me to tell you?" And with that, another strike sent the weakened assassin skidding backwards.

Fang was not stupid. She was impulsive and temperamental, but not stupid. And more importantly, just like Lightning, she was an assassin. She knew that to an assassin, killing someone that's in your way is second nature. And she quite wanted to see tomorrow. With those thoughts in mind, Fang smashed a window, and vanished into the dark.

* * *

His body throbbed and his head spun. A new life lesson was added into his brain: _Never take on an assassin when you've had a tinsy bit too much champagne._

His attempts to sit up were thwarted by a hand slamming into his chest and pushing him back down.

"Stay still." Amongst all the haze, Lightning's voice was crystal clear. "I'm trying to heal you, but it's not exactly my forte. The more you squirm, the more likely it is I'll screw up."

"That's reassuring." He muttered, reluctantly doing as she said and staying still. Her hands were wonderfully cool, he mused, as they raced up and down his torso, feeling for wounds and breaks. He hadn't taken that much of a beating, but pointing this out to Lightning would be fruitless. Instead, he relaxed slightly and allowed her to take charge.

If he was brutally honest, he enjoyed it. The feel of her hands gently probing here and there, resting on certain spots and pouring healing magic into the open wounds. As the healing process went on and his mind began to defog, he felt the growing burn in his stomach, which was travelling... His eyes widened.

"That's enough." He snapped, sitting upright and swiping her arms away. Lightning seemed a little surprised and perhaps a tiny bit insulted by that.

"There's a cut on your leg."

_Oh Etro save me, not my leg...!_

"It's fine!" Noctis insisted, his mind whirling for a subject change. "I thought you were going to Vanille with Astrum."

"Well, wasn't it lucky for you that I changed my mind?" She paused, before continuing her explanation. "Vanille saw Fang. She knew she was an assassin. Then we – well, I guess it was mostly me – Interrogated this boy who was helping her. Thought you might need a hand."

"Yeah." The Prince scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Thank you." The former assassin glanced down at the floor. Clearly she wasn't good with thanks. He paused before pulling her into a hug.

She stiffened slightly before leaning into the embrace ever so slightly. "I'm glad you're okay." He smiled.

"Prince Nocti – Oh." Both the Prince and the assassin spun around to see Stella, staring at them with wide eyes. "... Why... why are you with the assassin?"

It hit Lightning in that minute what an idiot she'd been. She'd assumed they'd seen Fang, but they hadn't. They had seen the... _damage_ Fang had caused, and assumed it had been the assassin they were looking for – Her. And now someone had found her _embracing_ the Prince... this couldn't end well.

"Stella," Noctis began with a calm tone of voice, although she could feel his hands shaking against her back. "Allow me to explain."

"We all knew you were keeping secrets, _Noct_." Stella's voice was almost a snarl. "But none of us ever envisioned something like this."

"It's not-" He stopped himself, trying to work out how to explain this. "She didn't kill those men tonight."

"Of course not." The blonde woman rolled her eyes. "Of course the assassin didn't kill any of the men who have been murdered."

"I didn't!" Lightning protested, which resulted in her being given a look that could only be described as venomous.

"You're trying to take down the council, aren't you?" Stella turned her gaze back to Noctis. "Trying to give yourself all the power, because you think Etro granted you this kingdom... Divine Right, I believe it's called."

"You're wrong Stella." His grip on Lightning tightened. "I promise you, you're mistaken."

"... I don't believe you." Stella whispered harshly. "Guards! _**Guards!**_"

Noctis froze. He couldn't believe it; the guards of his own kingdom were being called on him.

Lightning slapped him in the face and tugged on his arm. "Run already!" She screamed, pulling him onto his feet and starting to run down the corridor with him.

Running. From what? His home, his family, his life? Noctis' head continued to spin as he followed the ex-assassin, not really caring where they were going.

"Will you get a bloody move on?" Lightning yelled, tugging on his arm so hard it was nearly dislocated. He stumbled, yanked his arm out of her grip, and continued to run.

He was still trying to grasp what had just occurred. He was also trying to work out where he was meant to be going, but Lightning seemed to know the way. So he put all of his thoughts into following her, and hoping that they didn't encounter any guards.

* * *

King Timeaus had his head in his hands. This was a disaster. Ten people dead, several missing, and no word on the whereabouts of his nephew or the assassin. She had been here to kill Noctis, he had no doubts in his mind. And what was agonizing, was the fact that she may well have succeeded and he would be none the wiser.

The King was so engrossed in his own thoughts and worries that he did not notice Arminius walking towards him. The councillor was busy trying to arrange his features into a mixture of sincerity and anxiety, and stopping that 'I was right' grin from bursting forth onto his face. It looked like the grimace of a man who had just sat on a jelly covered hedgehog.

"Your highness," He began, making the king jump. "We have news."

"Of Noctis?" The King's worry for his nephew was evident. Arminius couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for him then, seeing as he was about to give news about his nephew which he most definitely would not want to hear.

"Of a sort." He paused, trying to work out what to say. "It isn't good news Your Majesty. He is alive but..." He trailed off, waiting for the King to say something.

"But what?"

"... He appears to be working with the assassin Sire." He said, keeping an eye on the King. His shoulders hunched, his face blank.

"Impossible." He muttered.

"Lady Fleuret saw him, Your Majesty." Arminius stated, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. "There is no reason for her to lie about something as serious as that. And he was spotted leaving with her by some of our soldiers..."

"Find them." The King's voice was quiet, but determined. "Find them, and arrest them both. I need to know what has really occurred."

"As you wish, Sire." And with a deep bow, Arminius left. Timeaus sighed and massaged his throbbing temples.

"Noctis..." He sighed. "What have you done now?"

* * *

The rain was relentless, pounding down on the two escapees. They had been running non-stop for the past fifteen minutes, and they were both exhausted.

"Where now?" Lightning asked, wiping clumps of pink hair out of her eyes. "We can't stay in Tenebrea anymore..." Noctis realised that she wasn't asking his opinion on anything, more talking to herself. He was slightly curious about this sudden insight into her thoughts. "We should head away from Pulse too, it's the first place they'll check. Pulse is to the north-east, and... whereabouts are we?"

"Vallis Acerba, it's in the south." Noctis supplied her with the necessary information.

"Then we should head south-west. The more distance we put between Pulse, Tenebrea and ourselves, the better." She paused before looking at the numb Prince. She softened the timbre of her voice. "Are you okay?"

"No." He spun around. "This is my Kingdom Lightning. And they think I've betrayed them. They think I'm trying to make this place into a dictatorship... they hate me." He stopped and sighed deeply. "And maybe I have."

"Bullocks." Lightning's harsh tone of voice returned. "And you know it is. Stop blaming the stupidity of your subjects on yourself."

"They're not stupid Lightning!" He yelled, turning around to face her. "Don't you dare insult them like that."

"They've dropped you like a hot coal." She pointed out harshly. Noctis growled, trying his best not to lose his patience.

"Are we going to go, or not?" He snapped, feeling his nerves grate. There was a silence that seemed to go on for eternity as the thunder boomed in the distance.

"Yeah. We are." Lightning sighed. "But first of all, sorry. I didn't mean to upset you anymore than you already are, and don't," She held up a hand to stop any protest. "Say that you're not upset, because you clearly are. And secondly, we're allies now." She started to run on.

Noctis frowned as he ran after her, the wind and rain slapping him in the face. As he caught up with her, he called out. "So what does that mean?"

"It means you call me Light."

* * *

_Okay, first things first: We've got to get out of Tenebrea. The further the better. Then, we've got to find somewhere to hole up, pretty much anywhere will do. Secondly, I've got to get in touch with Vanille and tell her to get out of Tenebrea. Thirdly, I've got to go after Phoenix._

_Only problem is, what do I do with Noctis? I can't drag him into this Phoenix war... or can I? He wants them dead just as much as I do._

_No, let's just rest first. We can wage war later._

* * *

_Light, huh?_

_Apparently, Lightning isn't even your real name. So I'm allowed to call you a shortened version of your real name... right._

_And now my entire kingdom is turning against me as I run. All of it. I am no longer a prince; I am an enemy of the state._

_Although it's making running twice as difficult, thank Etro it's raining. Light won't notice or ask about the water in my eyes now._

_And Etro... please, perserve us._

* * *

**Okay, long author's note time.**

**Basically, while I'm revising/in school studying for subjects I hate/trying NOT to revise, I will be planning out this story, along with other's I want to write once my exams are over. Sooo, in case you haven't voted in the poll on my profile yet, I want to know what sort of ending you want for Fire Escape. Happy, sad, bittersweet, angsty, tragic, or something completely different. I haven't made my mind up on it yet, and I'd like your opinions.**

**Okay, I better go before my parents find me awake. Don't forget to review!**

**I'll see you on the other side mo charas! *Salutes***

**Now, in the words of one who is far greater than I (The Eleventh Doctor)...**

**GERONIMO!!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, grovelling time. I'm so so so so so so sorry that it's been so long since I've updated... well, anything. I got incredibly stuck with the ending of this chapter - thank you so much Dawn for helping me with it! *Bows down* I've also been struggling with sixth form, which I am really beginning to hate more than my GCSE's (look, teachers, let me make one thing quite clear: There is no point in making us do essasys if we HAVEN'T COVERED THE COURSE YET), and various other issues which are rather personal and I won't go into them here. I hate reality.**

**So, this chapter is okay, and I promise, I will be quicker with the next chapter. Sweareth.**

* * *

Lightning's feet were aching. A quick glance at a clock illuminated in a shop window informed her of the time – two o'clock in the morning. A sign told her they were in they were almost in Edge. Far enough, she decided, coming to a sudden halt to rub her thighs. She didn't want to go into the actual city, there was a high risk of getting caught. Noctis skidded to a stop next to her, splashing into a muddy puddle.

"We should be fine here for a while." She decided, glancing around the street, quiet but not empty. People staggered along the cracked pavements, cars streaked up and down the road. "We'll try and find an inn, stay there for the night."

"Fine." The Prince shrugged and glanced down at the ground.

_Someone's in a sparkling mood._

It was times like this when Lightning wished she was just a little bit more like Vanille. The younger girl was so good at being positive and upbeat, and making people smile when the whole world was going to hell. Lightning herself wasn't so good at that – In fact, she generally tended to put people in a worse mood. The best thing to do would be to just ignore it. He'd be able to sort himself out. She hoped.

Pushing the Prince's woes to the back of her mind, the assassin glanced around the street, looking for any sign of an inn. Anywhere warm and dry where she could sit down and rethink. She wandered down the street, her eyes intensely scanning the buildings. She could hear Noctis' footsteps not too far behind her, slow and shuffling. Like he was bored. Or feeling conspicuous, which wouldn't surprise her – he was wearing a suit, in one of the poorest cities on the planet. Great, he was going to end up getting mugged. That was just perfect.

Luckily she saw a sign, loudly proclaiming that the largish building the sign was attached to was an inn. She turned to check that her companion was still following her – he was – before marching into the building.

The receptionist looked like a person who was about to quietly slip into a coma without anyone, including herself, noticing. Lightning walked over and rapped on the desk with her knuckles, making the tired, caffeine ridden woman leap up. She blinked and looked from Lightning to Noctis, before realising that they were potential customers.

"Welcome to The Edge Inn." The woman smiled a little too broadly, showing the lipstick on her teeth. Lightning flinched. "Do you have a reservation?"

"No."

"Oh." She blinked, clearly a little off put by the thought of more paperwork. "A spur of the moment thing?" She wondered, glancing between Lightning and Noctis with a tiny smirk beginning to appear on her face. The prince notably flushed. It took the former a few moments longer to latch onto the insinuation.

"I don't think that's in your job description." She snapped, slamming one finger down onto the wooden desk with such force hurt; an awful lot. But it was a manageable level of pain, worth it to see the smirk disappear. "Do you have a room or not?"

"Yes."

"Then would you please give us the keys. I shall not pry into your personal life, and you will keep your damn nose out of ours." Lightning continued to glare before the receptionist curled up her nose and shoved the keys towards her. The assassin smirked, picked the keys off the desk, checked the room number and threw them at Noctis, who scrambled to grab hold of them before they fell to the floor. "Do you have a phone?"

"There's a phone booth in the recreation area, second room to your right."

"Thank you." Lightning forced a smile onto her face before turning to face Noctis. "You go find the room, I need to phone Vanille."

"I've got people I need to phone too."

"Well, you can phone them when I'm done." Lightning waited for a retort, but the Prince just shrugged, checked the number on the keys and wandered off. She sighed and rubbed her temple.

* * *

Vanille had never been brilliant at times of extreme crisis. Right now, she watched the television in the corner of the cafe as Felix and Lexus listened in on the phone call Placido was currently receiving. She glanced briefly at him.

"Yes sire... no sire..." The older man clenched a fist and rubbed his head with his knuckles. "I understand, but-" He stopped as he was cut off by the mysterious man on the other end of the phone line. He looked like he was about to shoot something.

The pigtailed girl turned her attention back to the television, where a man whose face was far too shiny to be natural chattered on and on and on about "Prince Noctis' atrocious betrayal." She swung her legs back and forth and let the man's babble about assassinations and deaths wash over her head. She didn't want to hear it. All she wanted to know was that Lightning was okay, and as she had escaped, it was probable that she was. Her fingers stayed crossed though, just in case.

"Fuck!" Placido slammed his phone down on the table, causing everyone in the vicinity to turn and stare at him. He reddened slightly and shoved his glasses up his nose again – Vanille wondered if it was some sort of nervous tic. "Well, we are now unemployed, 'until such time as the Prince is found'."

"You're kidding!" Felix protested. Lexus took note of his position – sitting right next to Felix – and reacted by shoving his fingers into his ears. "It was Big-ass wasn't it? He's _always_ had it in for us, just 'cause we don't wrap Noctis up in cotton wool!"

"I don't think that's why he has it in for us." Placido muttered, glaring at Felix. "I think it was more to do with the pigeons in the library..."

"Hey, they were injured!"

"And the kitten in the kitchen..."

"It was abandoned!"

"And the car crash..."

"Wasn't my fault the old lady was an incredibly slow walker!"

"And the time you broke Noctis' leg."

"... That was an accident."

"You pushed him out of a second story window."

"By accident!"

"Are you guys done yet?" Lexus inquired, his elbows starting to ache from keeping them at right angles.

"We're up to Felix breaking Noctis' leg."

"I still don't understand how you managed to do that." The scarred man admitted, whilst removing his fingers from his eardrums.

"The swivel chair was out of control!" Felix shouted. "I couldn't steer! Noctis was in my trajectory! The window was open! What is there to get?"

"Why you were in a swivel chair in the first place." Placido said dryly. The blonde shrugged.

"Hey, they're a luxury where I come from."

_Beepbeep. Beepbeep. Beepbeep._

Vanille leapt at the unexpected noise. She scrambled into her pouch and extracted the mobile phone, hoping it was good news.

"Hello?"

"_Vanille?"_

"Lightning!" Vanille leapt up in her seat, making Hope scramble to the very edge of the bench. "Are you okay? What happened? Where are you? Is N... Is _he_ with you? Is he okay?"

"_We're both fine, I don't know, and it doesn't matter. We're safe."_

"Was it Fang?"

"_Of course it was Fang!"_ Lightning's voice sounded irritable already. Vanille bit her lip and decided to cut down on the number of questions per minute.

"Well, what happened?"

"_Some blonde woman saw me talking to Noctis after Fang nearly slaughtered him, she called the guards; we legged it."_

"I thought you said he was okay!"

"_He's fine, I healed him."_

"... **YOU** _healed_ someone?" The pigtailed girl was incredulous for a reason – Lightning had never paid attention when she'd tried to teach her white magic beyond cure and ensuna. She could practically hear the assassin's growl on the other line.

"_... Funny."_ She snarled. _"Just because I don't _need_ to use white magic a lot, it doesn't mean I'm completely inept. Are the others with you?"_

"Yeah, we're in a cafe."

"_... Why?"_

"I was thirsty. And Hope was hungry."

"_Hope?"_

"The boy. He's sweet!" There was a long pronounced silence from the phone. Vanille could practically see Lightning bit her lip and roll her eyes in agitation. She could also actually see the teenage boy blush.

"_Whatever. Look, just get them to take you guys out of Tenebrae, and get to a safe place, ASAP."_

"We're going to go once you come back."

"_That's going to be a little bit difficult Vanille, considering I am even more of a wanted woman than when I was top on the 'Most Wanted' list."_

"We can pick you up if you want. Where are you?" There was another pause on the line. "... Lightning? Where are you?"

"_I've got to go Vanille, there are loads of people waiting to use the phone."_

"Wait, where are you?"

"_I'll speak to you later Vanille, just get out of Tenebrea. Promise?"_

"But-"

"_Promise me Vanille."_

"Where are-"

"_Vanille! Promise me you'll get to a safe place! I'll meet you up soon, I swear."_

"But where are you now?"

"_I've got to go, Vanille, promise me!"_

"I promise. But-"

"_Bye Vanille."_

"Lightning!"

The only response was a click and the dialling tone.

* * *

The assassin slammed the phone down into the receiver and turned to face the empty room. That was one problem taken care of. Vanille was an 'I must never break a promise made between friends' type. She just managed to repress a yawn working its' way up her throat. Hm. Sleep first, plan to tear Phoenix apart feather by feather after.

Lightning marched through the corridors of the inn, trying to work out the seemingly random numbering of the doors in what appeared to be a mock labyrinth.

_Why the hell is door 134 next to door 156?_

After what felt like a millennium, she finally arrived at door 164 and burst in. Noctis was flopped on the bed, and barely acknowledged Lightning's entrance. She blinked.

"What is that?" She asked, disbelief barely hidden in her voice. Noctis glanced at what he was lying on.

"A bed." He muttered, having a feeling he knew what was coming next. "Yes, it's a double bed, can we be grown up about that?"

"I'm not sharing a bed with you."

"You already have."

"Yes, and that's why I'm never going to do it again."

"Hmph." Noctis pushed himself off the bed and brushed past her. "Fine. I'll sleep on the floor. I need to make some calls." He left. Lightning shrugged and tugged on a few strands of hair. This Prince was going to drive her crazy.

* * *

Noctis lent against the phone booth and sighed. Waiting for Felix to answer his damn phone was grating at his patience.

"Just pick up already!"

"_... Ur, I already did..."_

"Oh." Noctis blinked and shook his head. Why didn't he notice that the phone wasn't ringing anymore? Damn lack of concentration. "Felix, it's me."

"_Who is 'me'?"_

"Oh stop arsing about!"

"_So-__**rr**__-y! Just trying to introduce a little humour into the matter."_

"Yeah, I got chased by my own guards and am now hiding out with a known killer. Ha ha. Ha. Hahaha."

"_Lovin' the sarcastic laugh there."_

"Shut up. How bad is it?"

"_What, your laugh? Pathetic."_

"Look, either help or put me onto Placido! At least he's sane!"

"_Okay, chill out a little. Lexus went out and bought all of the early morning editions of the papers..."_

"... And...?"

"_Ur, basically: You're a traitor; a liar; the worst depiction of youth in Tenebrea, a hormone riddled idiot; arrogant; canoodling with the enemy – yes, they did actually use the word 'canoodling' – and possibly intrinsically linked with Councillor Vere's death. Also, Stella is giving interviews on almost all the news channels about finding you in the arms of an assassin."_

Noctis flinched and rested his head on the sharp corner of the phone. "Oh, Etro save me."

"_Noct, are you okay? I mean, are you safe?"_

"No. And no."

"_Look, we're gonna get Vanille somewhere safe. If you want, we could come and pick you up."_

"And what, Felix? Where can I possibly go? What can I possibly do?"

"_Well, you can't stay... wherever you are! Vanille, where are they?" _A slight pause._ "She didn't tell you? Oh man... Noct, where are you?"_

"Doesn't matter. Listen, look after each other, keep away from the press, and I'll see you when I see you."

"_And when will that be? Hey, Lexus, gerrof!"_

"_Let me talk to him you moron."_

"_No way!"_

_**Thunk.**_

"_Felix, you just pulled my hair! You are such a girl."_

"_I know."_

"I'll see you once I go back to Tenebrea." Noctis said, as the line went quiet. He could see Felix furrow his brow in agitation in his mind. It almost made him smile.

"_No, Noct, you can't-"_

"It's not up for discussion Felix. I'll see you soon."

"_No, Noct if you-"_

"Bye Felix."

"_... Bye Noct."_

Noctis put the phone down and rubbed his head. It hurt, a lot more than it rightly should. At this moment in time, he hated his head. His head was a traitor.

Like he was? No, he decided. He was not a traitor. The press could call him that if it made them feel better, if it simplified matters for them, but he was not one. He was a confused man, confused about what had happened, what was happening, and what was going to happen. All he had to do was work through his confusion and come to a conclusion about what was going on. But doing that was going to be tricky.

Etro, he wanted a cigarette.

* * *

Lightning didn't like the idea of Noctis sleeping on the floor. It didn't sit well with her, not one bit. However, being the chivalrous idiot he was, she doubted if he would allow her to sleep on the floor instead. Then again, the state he was in, he'd probably agree to her burning down the hotel and sleeping in the nearby river. Still, it was better not to take a chance. She'd just grab a blanket from under the bed and fall asleep before he returned from making his phone calls.

She couldn't quite place her finger on why it was that she was so anti-Noctis-sleeping-on-the-floor. She supposed she felt sorry for him, and wanted him to have a good nights' rest after the chaos of the previous day. Then again, she had never sympathized with anyone before, apart from Serah. So, had her personality suddenly changed as a result of the past few weeks? Or had she found someone she wanted to sympathize with, to feel for...?

There was a noise from outside. Some bird or animal was wandering around outside the semi-open window. Her nerves were on edge, her body screaming for sleep, and her mind barely managing to focus on one thought. She tried to catch the previous trait of thought. Feelings. Did she have feelings for Noctis? Ridiculous! Wasn't it?

She paused in her action of gathering the retrieved blanket into her arms. Wasn't it?

It was then Oerba Yun Fang flung herself through the window and slashed at Lightning.

Lightning barely had enough time to react, flinging herself to the floor as Fang launched into the room and landed on her feet. The assassin spun around on one foot to face her target, who was staggering to her feet with a slightly shocked expression on her face. She grinned.

"You've got pink hair. You tend to stand out a bit in a crowd." The dark haired woman explained, spinning her spear around to point at Lightning. "Stand up sunshine. I've got work to do."

The pink haired woman slowly stood up, cursing her genetics as she did so. Her eyes flicked back and forth across Fang's figure. Some sort of weakness, an opening...

"Good girl. Now, kick the weapon over to me."

Lightning slowly plucked her Blazefire Saber out of its' holster and kicked it over to Fang. The dark haired woman batted it to the side with one foot. Lightning crossed her arms and felt something in her pocket. Her survival knife. She'd completely forgotten about it.

Fang was heading right for her, spear pointed right at her throat. "Time to go sunshine. Sorry about this."

Survival knifes were made for survival, and there was no way she was giving up now.

Before Fang could thrust the spear forwards, Lightning dipped her hand into her pocket and opened up the survival knife, before pulling it out of her pocket and lunging towards the assassin.

She saw the knife slip between Fang's outstretched arms, keep travelling, before slamming into her throat.

Lightning stared at her, as the blood trickled out from around the fatal wound.

_Oh god..._

She fell backwards onto the floor.

* * *

When Noctis walked into the room, he froze.

Lying on the floor, with trickles of blood escaping from a gaping wound in her neck was the assassin from the palace. A knife marked the spot where she had been stabbed. The blood was thick and dark red, dribbling onto the floor.

He slammed the door shut behind him and grabbed the bedside table, sticking it under the doorknob.

"Lightning?" He scanned the room intently. "Lightning, it's me. Where are you? Light?" No response was given, but he could hear slow, shaky breaths. "Lightning...?" He leant over the bed.

Lightning was sitting hunched up next to the bed, her knees pulled right up into her face. He carefully tapped her shoulder. "Light?"

She jolted, turning her face to look at him. She was pale, tired, and blank. Almost like a sheet of paper. He didn't ask, he didn't have to. He just rubbed her shoulder gently, trying to reassure her. Trying to convince her that he knew everything was going to be just fine, although he highly doubted that was the case. A few minutes passed in silence.

"Light," He paused. "We need to get rid of... of the body." He waited for a response. At first she remained sitting where she was. After a minute or so, she stood up and clambered over the bed, planting her feet on the floor and kneeling down next to the body. Lightning plucked the knife out of Fang's throat and dropped it on the floor, before grabbing her arms.

"We'll just throw her somewhere. An industrial bin or something, we're not on record in this country. And we won't be staying here for long. We're not going to get noticed." Her voice was clipped and clinical, almost professional. Of course, he realised, killing had been her living once, and it made sense that getting rid of bodies came under the everyday work of an assassin.

Noctis stood up and walked over to the window, grabbing a blanket discarded on the floor. "Get her out of the window." Lightning nodded sharply and snatched the blanket away from him and began wrapping Fang in it. Noctis bit his lip and climbed out of the window, narrowly avoiding a presumably decorative rose bush. "Lucky we're on the first floor." He noted to himself, feeling distinctly nauseous. What was he expecting, really? Did he honestly not expect Fang to come after him again; did he honestly not expect Lightning to fight back with lethal force if attacked?

His thoughts were cut off when Fang's legs smacked him in the face. He bit down hard in an attempt not to scream. "Etro's sake Lightning, _warn me_ when you're about to do that!" He grabbed the dead woman's ankles and could just make out Lightning's figure, merely shrugging her shoulders. Sometimes, he hated her.

_But most of the time you don't._

Growling under his breath, Noctis waited for the former, living assassin to clamber out of the window and land in the rose bush. He winced, expecting some curses to spout forth. She just glanced down at her legs and started to hurry forwards. The Prince had to sprint just to avoid a collision. They staggered away from the hotel, struggling to find grip on the slimy, damp, uneven ground.

"Where now?" He asked, looking around and silently cursing Fang's weight in his head. Lightning jerked her head westwards while continuing to walk away. Noctis followed silently, trying to work out if he should attempt to strike up a conversation, or leave her alone. The invisible yet somehow noticeable cloud of anger swirling around her suggested that leaving her alone was the wisest thing to do.

The duo slipped through the back streets of Edge, Lightning's head spinning around constantly. Noctis was grateful that Edge didn't seem to have much of a nightlife. The soldier suddenly made a sharp left turn into a smaller alley, full of industrial bins.

"Here." Lightning stopped next to a bin and bit her lip. After a moment of thought she lifted up one leg and rested Fang's head on her knee; pushed the lid on the bin upwards, then picked up the body again. "Lift." Noctis slowly lifted the woman up, noticing that she was already beginning to go stiff from rigor mortis.

_This is almost definitely the most disturbing thing I have ever done in my life._

Lightning shoved the body roughly into the bin.

"Shouldn't we do something?" He asked. The assassin blinked blankly at him. "I mean, say some prayers or something."

"You can." She mumbled. "I have nothing to say."

He paused and looked at the bin containing the bundle of cloth and human remains. It slowly dawned on him that he knew nothing about Oerba Yun Fang, apart from the fact that she was an assassin who had a grudge against Lightning and Vanille. Still, he had to say _something_. "Goddess Etro, please lead this woman into your realm and show love and mercy on her soul." He bit his lip as he tried to think of something to say about her.

"Done?" Lightning asked. He slowly nodded. She slammed the lid shut and headed back to the inn. Noctis hesitated; taking one last look at the bin, before cautiously following her, keeping roughly three metres in-between himself and the assassin.

* * *

Hope glared at the upholstery in the car. He did not care much for being called 'kid' and generally being pushed about. However, he was at a dead end – No money, no support, and no real home to go to even if he had the first two things. So Vanille insisting that he came along with her to set up a new life in Astrum seemed like the only real option, even if it wasn't his preferred one.

Vanille was shifting about in the seat next to him, as restless as a hyperactive toddler. She mumbled and grumbled under her breath, occasionally nibbling her lip. The teenager hesitated, before slowly reaching over and patting her on the back. She responded by pulling him into a bone crunching hug, eliciting a couple of snickers from the front of the car as he wriggled about in obvious discomfort.

He hated them.

* * *

Lightning scrambled back through the open window, trying to calm down her thoughts, which were rushing around her head the way a ship trying not to capsize during a storm would.

The sight of the stains on the floor didn't help much. Lightning swallowed down something that was trying to push its' way up her throat – she couldn't tell whether it was saliva, vomit, or a scream.

_Calm down already, what is wrong with you? This is not a big deal._

No, it wasn't a big deal, not at all... Except Lightning couldn't quite convince herself the way she wanted to.

The hand that landed on her shoulder made her jolt. She mentally slapped herself as Noctis looked at her worriedly.

"There's a bathroom through there. Go take a shower and try to calm down, I'll clear this up."

Lightning ideally contemplated protesting, but she was too tired to even try getting into an argument. Her nerves were stretched as far as possible, and she was absolutely filthy... when _was_ the last time she had showered?

With that rather disgusting thought lingering in her mind, she headed into the shower.

Noctis massaged one temple roughly with his hand. He knelt down next to the puddle of blood, silently thanking Etro that it wasn't too large, and cautiously dabbed one finger into it. Still mostly liquid. His eyes scanned the room desperately trying to seek out something to wipe the mess up with...

A complementary box of tissues caught his eyes. He snatched a handful and started wiping the floor clean. This was something he never thought he'd have to do.

As he cleaned the floor, his eyes briefly glanced at his ring. "Damn it!" He whipped the ring off, rubbed it clean with a tissue and shoved it into his pocket. If anyone saw that ring, it would become pretty obvious who he was. Of course, that was if his face wasn't already sprawled all over the newspapers... He had to get out of the city.

With the blood cleaned up, and the tissues thrown into the bin he sank down onto the bed with a heavy sigh. He needed to start planning properly. What the hell was he thinking? He had just chucked a body into an industrial skip and was expecting to get away with it. Never mind the apparent betrayal of his country...

_But I __**didn't**__ betray them damn it!_

Like that mattered to them. He let out a short, bitter laugh. Tenebrea wasn't safe – At least, not for the time being. He'd effectively banished himself out of Edge. Astrum, Cocoon? He didn't know anymore. And he had a headache.

The door opened, causing Noctis to jump up in surprise. Lightning blinked at stared at him, hair wringing wet but fully clothed.

"Oh. Sorry..." He frowned as he tried to understand what he was sorry for. Hell. "How are you?"

She shrugged. "Damp." The assassin paused to think of something else to say. "Just... damp."

"I didn't mean physically Light."

"I know." She sighed and walked over to the bed, perching herself on the edge. "I'm evil, I'm a monster, and right now I hate myself more than I hate a cie'th."

Noctis blinked. "Right." He bit his lip before awkwardly draping an arm around Lightning. "You're not as bad as all that." He winced, realising his slight mistake. "I mean, you're not bad, you're just... Well, she _was_ trying to kill you."

"I am aware of that Noctis." She growled to herself and rubbed her forehead irritably. "It's because I ran away that Phoenix sent her after me, but even I haven't got a chance against them in a straight battle."

"So... what are you saying?"

"I need a bomb." Lightning stated flatly. Noctis couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "I know where I can get one, so just pop it in and... well, that'll be the end of that." She nodded, seemingly sure of her decision. "It works out best for everyone. No more Phoenix, I won't be terrified of being shot every ten seconds, and... Well, your country won't have anyone to fight against, so that'll be one war over before it even properly begins."

The Prince silently weighed up her decision in his head. True, it was the most effective way of stopping the war – getting rid of the people who started it in the first place. Pulse didn't have a standing army, so Tenebrea would just shrug and head back home, no soldiers killed, no widows bleating to the media about how their son was the consummate soldier... but one thing niggled at him.

"I thought you said not everyone in Phoenix was bad." He said. "I thought you said there were people like you, like Snow, who weren't there because they supported Phoenix, but because there was nowhere else left to go. What happens to them, Light?"

"_I don't want to think about that_!" Lightning's voice was somewhere between a cry and a screech. "I can't think anymore, because I can't take it..." Her head dropped down onto her lap. "I just can't..."

Noctis blinked rapidly, unsure of what to do now. Cautiously, he pulled her into a proper hug. The assassin was tugging hard on her hair; he could see tiny trickles of blood beginning to form on her scalp. He ran various sentences and phrases through his head, trying to think of something vaguely comforting to say. Nothing quite seemed to fit the situation though.

And his chance of saying something soothing went flying out the window when Lightning suddenly assaulted his lips.

His first reaction was to simultaneously shove her backwards and scoot away from her. She seemed fairly unperturbed by this reaction, just crossing her arms and giving him a very pointed look.

"What..." He paused and attempted to think of the appropriate question. "... What was... well, _that_?"

She rolled her eyes and edged towards him. He didn't move.

_It's like a game of chicken, don't blink._

"Light?" He inquired again. Lightning held his gaze for a moment longer before dropping it down to stare at the quilt.

_Hollow victory._

"I don't want to think anymore. I want... something to stop me thinking. And I know you want to stop too," Her fists clenched around the quilt and her voice became faster. "So don't start looking down on me."

The Prince blinked. She made it _sound_ incredibly simple, as if she could just find that switch, flick it, and all thought processes would just stop. But that was not how it worked.

_How would you know?_

He started slightly as that thought settled into his head, and showed no signs of moving. And Lightning was shifting ever closer, whilst he felt glued to the spot.

_Okay, reasons why you should stop her: She's unstable, she's upset (so this might be considered taking advantage, you'd have to check a law book on that), and she can kill you if you look at her sideways._

_Reasons why you shouldn't stop her: You do want it. And now is not the time to start wondering why._

When Lightning finally closed the gap and began to kiss him with a lot more passion than he expected from someone usually so cold, Noctis decided that tonight would either be one of the best nights of his life so far, or amongst the biggest mistakes he'd ever make.

* * *

***Coughs awkwardly and glances to the side***

**Yeah, you get where that's going. Again, thank you so so so so so much Dawn for helping me with the ending!**

**And no, this chapter isn't very good, but at least it's done. Praise be to Batman!**

**There were other things I was going to say, but I forgot. I think it was along the lines of I'm really sorry, please forgive me.**

**Oh wait, I'm thinking of moving this story into the crossover section, because... *Shrugs* I'm thinking of moving it over into the crossover section. I'm so going to rewrite this story once Versus comes out...**

**COME OUT OF THE CLOSET VERSUS, COME OUT OF THE CLOSET!**

**Oh, and I've finally finished planning the story. Yes, I know what's going to happen now... *Evilz grin***

**Anyway, ciao for now mo charas! I love you guys, and again, I'm really really sorry! =(**


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